Outside Context Problem
by Fractral
Summary: In an alternative world populated by warring clans of Spartans, one dysfunctional squad tries to survive in the face of a catastrophe that threatens to overturn everything they know.
1. The short road to dissilusionment

**A note-**

**This is an original story based off Halo multiplayer. The Setting, Characters and Story are all original, although you will recognize the names of equipment and vehicles used. The setting imagines what would happen if there were a huge world, filled with a never ending multiplayer battle between different clans of Spartans. The story follows a squad of soldiers from one of these clans.**

**Outside Context Problem**

**The Short Road to Disillusionment**

The morning sun shone over the edifice that was the scorpions base. From the open back of the pelican, Gigolo could see miles of steep mountains in its golden light. He didn't appreciate it much.

'Lights' gonna make it hard to get in unseen', he said over the team channel.

'True', Atlas echoed.

'Then I guess you're gonna actually have to work for once,' Midori taunted.

'Nah,' said Gigolo. 'This is still gonna be a piece of cake for me.' He stretched his body, encased in the suit of power armor. He could hear Midori tutting over the channel.

'Stop the chatter,' snapped Zero. 'We drop in 10 seconds. Standard formation.'

The light on the rear of the pelican flashed green, and Zero jumped out of the back of the pelican. Gigolo took a breath, then followed him. His tracker showed Elesa 10 meters behind him and to his left, while Midori was a little way behind her on his right. Vivian brought up the rear.

He turned his attention to what his visor showed him. He could see Zero 15 meters ahead of him, and beyond him, the Scorpion base, approaching rapidly. The base seemed to be abandoned; though he knew that Elesa would probably be able to spot some life. Most of the Scorpions were out attacking his own base, Aspertias.

'Decarabia, on me.' Zero called. 'Deploy airbrakes... now.'

Gigolo ignored the order. As the rest of Decarabia squad slowed, he sped onwards. After a few more seconds, he deployed his airbrake. He slowed rapidly, landing to a running stop on the roof of the tallest building in the base. Behind him, the rest of his squad came to a slower stop on the roof.

'Gigolo!' Zero shouted. Gigolo smiled inside his helmet.

'Yes sir?' He asked innocently. Zero was silent for a moment, then spoke again.

'You disobeyed a direct order.' His voice was once again quiet and controlled.

'Because you ordered us to slow to early. As I showed-' He gestured to himself- 'We could have left braking till later, and still been safe.' Zero turned away.

'Except whatever time you might have saved you just wasted,' Elesa muttered.

'Squad, move up.' Zero said over the channel.

Gigolo gave himself a mental handshake. _I showed him up!_ He thought, happy. _The others will have to see soon. He's an awful leader._

He hurried after the rest of the squad. In his helmet he brought up an image of the layout of scorpion base. Vivian had marked a route for the squad to take that should, in theory, allow them to avoid the majority of the defenses. Even so, there were a number of guard posts marked, the first of which was directly beneath the ledge Zero was running towards.

Zero stopped at the edge of the overhang. 'Can you see anything, Elesa?'

Elesa slowly turned her head, covering the entire of the overhang. 'Three guards below. Looks like they have shotguns,' she said quietly.

'Right,' Zero said. 'Gigolo, go camouflaged and get into position to take one out. When you're there, we'll drop and kill the others.'

Gigolo mock saluted, then turned his camouflage on. He jumped over the edge, sliding down the side of the building, and then jumped into the balcony below. There were, as Elesa had said, three guards, all holding shotguns. Two of them sat in chairs, while the third stood at the railing, staring out across the plain. They didn't seem to have realized that Decarabia had landed. Gigolo carefully stepped over the railing, at the edge of the balcony, and then took up position behind one of the sitting Spartans, his shotgun trained on his head. He sent the 'ready' message.

Midori and Zero jumped over the edge. The Scorpion troops jumped to their feet, struggling to pull their weapons to bear. Gigolo stood and fired a round at point blank into the man in front of him, then twisted and fired another into the other sitting spartan. Midori punched the standing troop in the face, while zero spun behind him and slit his throat with a knife. Moments later Elesa and Vivian jumped down as well.

'Two for me' said Gigolo, smiling.

'Keep the channel clear.' Zero snapped.

'All right, keep your wig on..' Gigolo muttered.

'Vivian, take point,' Zero said. 'Midori and Gigolo behind. Elesa, with me. Go.'

Vivian began jogging forward, into the room adjacent to the balcony. She swept her sights over the room, not seeing any enemies. Gigolo kept close behind her, also keeping his guard up.

'Two coming in from the right,' Elesa said quietly. Vivian dived through the doorway into the connecting corridor. Immediately the two Spartans opened fire, giving away their location and allowing Elesa to fire a sniper shot through the wall. One of the Spartans was flung against the wall. The other was stunned for a moment- long enough for Vivian to run up and kick him back. She finished him off with a shot from her DMR.

'We have to go this way,' Vivian said. She began to run to the left. Gigolo ran into the corridor, glancing around to check for enemies. Satisfied, he began to follow Vivian. Midori ran close behind.

'Right,' Vivian said. She grabbed onto the wall and span into the corridor, keeping her momentum. She began sprinting down the new hallway.

'Hey, Viv' baby,' Gigolo said, panting. 'Maybe you could slow down a little?'

'Zero?' Vivian asked.

'Do it.'

Gigolo turned and saw that Zero wasn't having any trouble. _That's not fair. He's a scout. He has to be fit._

'The core is just ahead,' Vivian said calmly, now only jogging.

'Slow down a bit,' Zero ordered.

The squad came to a halt by a door at the end of the hallway.

'Through here,' Vivian said.

'Midori, blow it,' ordered Zero. Midori pulled a charge from her pack and placed it on the door. She jumped back and blew the charge. Immediately bullets whizzed through the space where the door had just been. Midori's shield flared as bullets deflected off it. She jumped away from the doors.

'Two machine gun turrets, protected by a shield.' She said, panting.

'Damn,' Zero said. 'Right, Midori, blow it.'

'Hey boss,' Gigolo said. 'I could do it?'

'People coming.' Elesa said quietly.

Zero looked at him for a moment, then back at Midori. 'Midori, do it. Vivian, we're going to follow up.'

Midori pulled a rocket launcher from her back. She checked it was loaded, took a breath, and then jumped across the doorway, firing. Two rockets flew down the corridor, blowing up at the shield. The shield flared, then gave out. At that moment, Zero and Vivian both jumped into the corridor, firing from their precision weapons. The bullets found their targets heads, killing instantly. Zero didn't pause, running towards the door.

Gunfire sounded from where they had come from. Elesa's sniper fired twice, and the other guns fell silent. 'More coming,' She said.

'Get down here,' Zero ordered. Elesa scrambled to her feet, following Zero into the core room. Gigolo glanced down the corridor again, then followed them into the chamber.

Countless pipes and tubes fed into the huge metal brick that was the scorpion's core. Shaped like a squat cylinder, the core pulsated with an eerie blue light, which filled the room that housed it. Gigolo found himself drawn to it, somehow.

'So do we blow it?' Midori asked.

'I bet you love that,' Gigolo said. 'Gotcha!'

'Shut it asshole,' Midori replied, holding a fist up.

'Wait,' Zero said. He held a hand up. 'Damn. Command wants us to fall back.'

'Why?' Vivian asked.

'Yeah, why the hell? We're at their damn core,' Gigolo said, irritated.

'Scorpions are retreating back here. ETA 1 minute.'

Midori looked at Vivian. 'Please tell me you have an escape route.' Vivian nodded.

'We go out via the motor pool. This way.' She began to jog towards a door on the other side of the room. Gigolo sighed, then ran after her.

_All this running... I bet those guys in the major squads don't have to do this._

'We'll rendezvous with Cerberus at the motor pool,' Vivian said. 'They'll help us break out of here.'

The elevator was only a short distance from the core room. Decarabia sprinted the way there. Gigolo decided it was best not to complain.

'Do we wait for it?' Midori asked.

'Hell with that,' Gigolo said. He pulled his shotgun and blew the lock on the doors. They tumbled inwards, exposing the elevator shaft. 'We'll slide down on the rope. Simple, eh?'

Zero nodded. 'Midori, you first.'

Midori jumped into the open shaft, one hand catching the rope. She began to slide down. Gigolo jumped in after her.

'Woohoo!' He yelled.

'Quiet,' Zero ordered.

'Spoilsport,' Gigolo muttered back.

Zero jumped in after him, followed by Vivian and Elesa. Shouts started to echo from above- their exit route had been found.

'Car coming up!' Midori screamed suddenly.

'Hold on-' Zero yelled, but was cut off by a sudden screech of metal. Gigolo shut his eyes in anticipation. Nothing happened. He opened them, and saw the elevator car above him, a large hole bored through the middle. He breathed out slowly.

'Here's the bottom,' Midori shouted. She jumped off the cable and through the open doorway at the bottom. Gigolo followed her. Behind him he heard thumps as the rest of the squad also made the jump.

Immediately gunfire started up.

'Get to cover!' Zero yelled. Gigolo didn't need any encouragement. He jumped behind a blockade as a machine gun raked the spot he had just been standing in. The rest of the squad took cover behind other blockades.

'9 Enemies armed with heavy weaponry.' Elesa's voice remained impassive as she read the situation.

'Damn. Where are Cerberus?' Midori asked.

'Dead.' Elesa said quietly. She paused. 'Getting a signal- torchbearers coming into the cavern.'

'What? Why are they here?'

'Never mind that,' Gigolo said impatiently. 'How many of them?'

'20 or so. Looks like- yes, they're engaging the Scorpions.' Elesa looked from side to side, her Promethean vision picking up the firefight.

'Lets go,' Zero said. 'Mop them up.' Gigolo pulled his assault rifle, then vaulted the blockade. A handful of Scorpions still stood in the center of the motor pool. One let out a shout as he saw Gigolo. He was quickly dropped by Gigolo's assault rifle. Vivian and Zero picked the rest off with their DMR's.

When the battle was over, the leader of the torchbearers came running up to Zero.

'We spotted the Scorpions coming back and thought we might give you a hand. Looks like we were just in time, eh?' He cleared his visor, smiling widely.

'Thank you very much,' Zero said politely.

'We can get the pleasantries over later, surely.' Gigolo cracked his knuckles impatiently. 'We should get out of here before any more Scorpions show up.' The Torchbearer leader nodded, and motioned for his troops to get into the nearby warthogs. Zero and the rest of the squad did the same.

'Would it have killed them to give me a bit more warning? This bird isn't made for dogfighting,' Atlas complained. Midori shrugged.

'I guess we're not very high on their list of priorities. We only got a minutes warning, anyway. And besides, its not like you can't dogfight- heck, you took down a couple of them.' Atlas shook his head.

'Yeah, yeah, I know.'

A red light appeared, blinking on the Pelican's dashboard. Atlas flipped a switch, then put his head to the microphone.

'This is LS 6 Pelican, Decarabia squad, coming into dock at Aspertias Base.'

'We read you Decarabia, you are cleared to dock.' There was a moment of static, before a different, harsher voice cut in. 'Tell Zero I want to see all of you in the Ops room in 1 hour. Meier out.'

Atlas groaned. 'Meier's gonna give us another good shouting,' he said.

'You don't know that for sure,' Midori replied. Atlas looked at her despairingly.

'Yes, yes I do,' He said, rubbing his head. 'Ever since this squad was formed, all he's done is yell at us. We've become the laughing stock of the clan.'

'Tell me about it later,' Midori replied. 'We're about to dock.'

The pelican cleared the final mountain ridge, and all of a sudden Aspertias base was in view. It was a magnificent edifice, carved from an entire mountain, and rising hundreds of meters above the base of the valley. It was protected by sheer drops on three sides by sheer drops to the valley floor, and connected to the main road by a single winding track. The buildings were made out of white stone, fitting with the limestone make up of the mountain, and many spires and towers could be seen jutting out of the central area. It looked like a huge, glittering castle.

**-2-**

Atlas brought the pelican to land on one of the upper bays. Metal claws swung out and grabbed onto the side of the aircraft, anchoring it firmly.

'We've arrived,' he called, walking out of the pilot compartment and into the cargo area.

'Any news?' Vivian asked. Atlas nodded.

'Meier wants to see us in ops in an hour.'

Zero sighed. 'Take a break until then. Make sure you have your best uniforms on.' He got up and walked out of the back of the pelican, followed quickly by Vivian.

'Look at those lovebirds,' Gigolo jeered. 'I honestly don't know why she likes him. Maybe she's just into failures?'

'Shut up.' Elesa stood sharply and walked out of the back of the pelican. Atlas shrugged.

'To be honest, I can't see anyone ever loving you either, Gigolo.' He kept his face impassive for a few moments, then broke into a smile. Gigolo punched him playfully.

'Shall we go?' Midori asked, walking out of the aircraft.

'See you then Gigolo,' Atlas said. He followed Midori out of the pelican. 'Where shall we spend our hour of relaxation, then?'

'I thought we'd go to Harry's. They have some real nice non alcoholic cocktails. But first we'd better change out of our armor, eh?'

'Sure. I'll see you there in 5 minutes, okay?' Atlas walked off towards the male changing rooms. He walked into one of the large cubicles and began to take his armor off. Once it was all off, he deposited it in the wall chute, and pulled a set of overalls from the dispenser.

After freshening himself, Atlas checked a map for directions to Harry's, and then walked the distance there. Midori was already sitting at the bar, browsing through the drinks menu. She waved when she saw him. Atlas grinned. He really had the hots for Midori, with her slim but powerful body, straight brown hair, and vaguely eastern face.

'I thought they said women took longer to change,' she said with a smile.

'That's a blatant generalization. Some men like to make themselves feel pretty now and again.' Midori laughed.

'Its been too long since we got to relax together. We need to get to more parties.' She placed her finger on an image in the menu. 'I'll have this one, please.' The bartender nodded and walked away.

'Easier said than done. Meier seems intent on running us into the ground.' Atlas sighed. 'What did we do to deserve this?'

'Nothing as far as I can see,' Midori replied. 'Thanks,' she said to the bartender, taking her drink.

'That's it. It's all Zero's fault. Meier only hates him- goodness knows why- but he takes it out on all of us. It's not fair.'

'Hey, I'm sure it's not all Zero's fault. He's a good tactician, as much as Gigolo tries to disprove it.'

'He's made one mistake after another recently. He let those bandits get away with the shipment of ammo, he failed to knock out those defenses last week... I could go on, you know.'

Midori folded her arms. 'Hey, can we please change the subject? Look, I know all about your vendetta against Zero- god knows you've told me about it enough- but we're supposed to be relaxing, not moaning about our squad leader.'

Atlas held up his hands. 'Just saying, alright? Besides, its important. Gigolo thinks that if we don't get a new squad leader we could all be kicked out of the clan.'

'And let me guess- this new squad leader is him. Gigolo has the leadership skills of a porcupine, Atlas.'

'Hey, give him a chance.'

'Maybe you should give Zero a chance. We've been in this squad for what- two months now, and you're already bitching about him. It doesn't look good to our superiors, you know.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right.' Atlas accepted his drink from the bartender and took a long drink. 'So,' he said, wiping his mouth. 'Do you reckon Zero and Vivian are an item, or just friends?'

'Well,' Midori said, 'I don't honestly know. Vivian doesn't tend to be very chatty about her private life.'

'They spend a lot of time together.' Atlas said.

'Yeah, and Vivian seems to really trust Zero. But, I dunno.' Midori looked thoughtful. 'They don't seem like they're in love or anything. Plus,' she leaned in towards Atlas, 'don't tell anyone I said this, but apparently they used to be together, but had a break up or something ages ago. It's anyone's guess what they are now.'

'You know, I never thought of you as a gossip, Midori,' Atlas said, his face a disapproving frown.

'Hey!' Midori looked hurt. 'You brought it up.'

Atlas grinned. 'Just teasing doll.' Midori faked a frown and turned back to her drink.

'So this is where you got to,' Gigolo said from behind Atlas.

'Hello Gigolo,' Midori said politely. She looked pointedly at her watch. 'I should get going. It'll take me a while to change into my uniform. You two be good, okay?' She kissed Atlas on the cheek and walked away. Gigolo watched her leave.

'Stop checking her out,' Atlas said wearily.

'I'm not checking her out,' Gigolo said, distracted.

'Yes, you are.'

'Fine, whatever,' Gigolo said petulantly. He turned to face Atlas. 'Her body aside, what is her problem with me?'

'I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, Gigolo, but you are kinda hard to get along with.'

Gigolo looked offended. 'I resent that. They just don't make the effort.'

'No, its more how you're always insulting people and making fun of them.'

'They just can't take a joke.' Gigolo stretched his back. 'Anyway, did you see how I totally showed Zero up during the mission? That was pretty good, right?'

Atlas shook his head. 'No, because as Elesa pointed out, you then went on to squander whatever time you might have gained by rubbing it in Zero's face.'

'Good point,' Gigolo said. He looked at Atlas concernedly. 'Hey man, you're not dropping out on me now are you? You know we gotta get zero fired or else we're going to be next.'

Atlas smiled. 'No, I'm still with you. But you need to get the rest of the squad on our side, and I don't think Vivian or Elesa like you very much. So- just try and keep your aggravating side to a minimum, okay?'

'Yeah, sure. Whatever.' Gigolo stood up. 'I'm gonna go get changed. Got to be on time to make a good impression on the general.' He turned and walked out.

Atlas finished his drink. 'I don't think that's going to endear you much to Meier,' he said to nobody.

Atlas took the elevator back to his quarters. He changed into his dress uniform, making sure to have it as neat as possible, and then took the elevator up to the highest floor of the base. He stepped out into the bustling ops room, filled with people working at terminals and typing unintelligible code into machines. Atlas nodded to a few people he knew, then walked into the briefing room set into the corner.

Midori, Gigolo and Elesa were already there, standing to attention. Atlas stood beside Gigolo and checked the clock- it was exactly the time that they had been ordered to be there.

After a few more minutes the doors opened again to let Vivian and Zero in. They stood themselves next to Elesa. Gigolo couldn't hide his smile.

'So what were you too lovebirds doing, eh? Something dirty? Oooooh.' He started laughing.

'Silence!' an imposing voice ordered. Atlas turned his head and saw General Meier walk into the room. 'Does something seem funny to you?' He shouted at Gigolo.

'No sir.' Gigolo stood up as straight as he could. Atlas turned his head back to face straight in front of him, hoping not to give Meier any reason to shout at him.

'Really? Then why were you laughing?' Meier bellowed.

'No reason sir.'

'Really? Is that so, you pathetic excuse for a close quarters soldier?'

Gigolo swallowed. 'Yes sir.'

Meier paused, then walked towards Zero. 'Zero. Your name betrays your usefulness.'

Zero didn't move.

'Your career has been one catastrophe after another. Once again you failed at your task of destroying the scorpion's core.'

'Sir, we were told to fall back.' Zero spoke impassively, no hint of emotion in his voice.

'Did I say you could speak?' Meier stood behind Zero. 'Yes, you were told to fall back, but it takes a pretty weak leader to be right at the enemies core and not attack it, doesn't it?'

'Sir, I fail to see why you are angry at us. At least we survived, unlike Cerberus team.'

'Cerberus only died because you weren't fast enough to save them. They performed admirably, actually, despite their lack of useful support. I shall be speaking with them as soon as they respawn.'

Atlas could see Zero's jaw clench. He looked at Gigolo, who smiled.

'You shall have another chance to redeem yourselves. I am this close-' He held two fingers together- 'to kicking your entire squad out of the clan. Give me a reason not to.' He turned and walked out of the room.

'Well, that's a bummer,' Atlas said. 'What's our assignment?'

'Escort a convoy from Nasces to torchbearer base,' Vivian said. 'Meier wants us gone in an hour.'

'Suit up, everyone. We're leaving as soon as we can,' ordered Zero.

'What about sleep?' Gigolo asked.

'We'll sleep in the pelican. Now go.'

'Well,' said Atlas, as he turned to leave. 'This can't be too difficult, can it?'

**-3-**

At the very southern end of the northern continent lay the largest city of the continent, Nasces. It's size was incredible by Decarabia's standards- 7 kilometers across, with a population in the hundreds of thousands, and over 150 individual cores. It was a home for hundreds of clans, all existing in a state of semi-permanent war, as if the northern clan wars were magnified several times. Despite the constant battles, the city was astounding to look at- several massive skyscrapers rose from the center of the city, almost the size of the towers at Aspertias base. Other examples of large scale engineering dotted the city, such as huge road bridges, and a cargo port spread several kilometers across the city's southern flank. No-one knew who built them- the names of the clans were long forgotten, lost in the city's melting pot of alliances and betrayals.

The squad spent barely an hour there, loading the Torchbearer's transport vehicles, before they got into their own pelican and flew north again. Away from the lush lowlands of the coast, the land quickly rose up into a series of alpine valleys. Thin logging trails led through the tall forests; as the ground convoy passed deer scattered and birds flew away, squawking.

'This sucks,' Gigolo said.

'Shut up.' Elesa replied, barely glancing away from her scope.

'Yeah, stop complaining,' Midori said. 'At least we're not doing anything dangerous, or demeaning.'

'I'm surprised Meier gave us something so easy,' Vivian said. 'I assumed he'd want us to fail.'

Gigolo laughed. 'Yeah, I'm sure he's really not as nasty as he seems. Underneath that sour exterior he probably has a heart of gold.'

'Nah,' Atlas said over the intercom, 'I bet he's set something up for us.'

'That's a possibility,' Gigolo said. He turned to Zero. 'Hey, seeing as your the one who got us into this mess- what do you reckon Meier's planning?'

Zero stared at Gigolo. 'Meier won't have set anything up. And shut up.'

'Oh, strong words,' Gigolo jeered. 'Just because you're the squad leader- actually, why are you even the squad leader? Because you've been here the longest?'

'Give it a rest, Gigolo,' Midori said. 'If anyone's going to screw this mission up, it will be you with your constant bickering.'

'What is your problem with Zero?' Elesa said suddenly. 'Why do you always have a go at him? You're doing the most damage here.'

Gigolo held his hands up. 'Hey, I'm not the one who got us into this mess. Remember that.'

Elesa turned to Midori. 'Why do you hang out with him so much? He's an ass.'

Midori laughed. 'He sure is El, he sure is.'

'Hey! I'm here you know!' Gigolo shouted, angry.

'Not so nice when you're on the receiving end of the jokes, is it?' Vivian said.

'Well, we all know he's a hypocrite.' Zero stood up, staring Gigolo down.

'Oh, so I'm the hypocrite am I?' Gigolo shouted. 'I'm the one who is ruining everyone's lives?'

'Well you sure as hell aren't fixing them.'

'You're an awful leader. There- I said it. We'd be better off with an insect running this squad.' Gigolo stood up as well.

'Which is what we'd get if you ran it,' Vivian said quietly.

'Oh, and I suppose you'd be far better?' Zero asked Gigolo.

'Yes, I would. Its not hard to be better than you, Zero. We all agree don't we? Zero is an awful leader.' Gigolo looked around the other people sat in the pelican.

Zero sighed, then ran forward and punched Gigolo across the face.

'Hey!' Midori shouted.

Gigolo staggered backwards. Zero kicked him in the chest, then followed with a knee as he doubled up. Gigolo fell to the floor, gasping.

As Zero turned away, Gigolo caught his breath, and stood up. He charged Zero, pinning him to a wall. As Zero tried to regain focus, he began to rain punches down on the other man's face. Vivian and Midori rushed forward to pull them apart. They wrenched Gigolo off of Zero, still struggling.

'Guys- Hostiles!' Atlas cried from the cockpit. 'Missiles launched. Taking evasive maneuvers.'

The pelican lurched suddenly. Gigolo reeled backwards, and fell out of the back of the pelican. Midori screamed and threw herself forwards. She caught Gigolo's hand as he fell away, screaming.

'Damn it Zero, help me!' She shouted. After a moment of indecision, Zero ran and leaned out of the back of the pelican, taking care to anchor himself securely.. He grabbed Gigolo's hand.

'Pull!' Midori shouted.

Zero heaved, but the pelican lurched again and he nearly slipped out. 'It's a little tricky right now!'

'What are we going to do then?' Midori cried.

'Wait- Atlas!' Zero shouted.

'A little busy here,' Atlas replied testily.

'Fly straight down!'

'Are you mad?' Atlas shouted.

'Gigolo's life depends on it,' Zero replied. Atlas grunted, and Midori felt the pelican flip downwards. The open back of the aircraft pointed upwards, and Gigolo came flying in. Midori overbalanced and fell back towards the cabin door. She felt Zero grab her arm and slam it into the floor. She cried out at the pain.

'I can't maintain this!' Atlas yelled. The pelican pulled up sharply, and the open back of the pelican started pointing downwards all of a sudden. Midori suddenly understood what Zero had done- she was now anchored relatively securely. She glanced over and saw that Zero had also done the same to Gigolo, who seemed to have passed out.

After a few minutes of maneuvers, the pelican's flight eased out. Midori pulled her hand free from the floor of the pelican, and the rest of the squad untied their restraints.

'Maybe you should close the back door,' she shouted to Atlas. There was a grunt over the radio, and the door closed. She turned around to see Zero standing by Vivian.

'Check Gigolo,' he ordered. Midori shrugged, and bent over Gigolo. She slapped him a few times, which seemed to wake him up. Muttering incoherently, Gigolo got to his feet. He shook his head a few times.

'Oh man...' He said. Then he looked at Zero. 'You bloody ass! I could have died!' he shouted.

'I saved you.' Zero said.

'Yeah, well you took your damn time about it! And wasn't this your fault anyway?'

'Actually,' Vivian said quietly, 'I think you started it.'

'Shut up!' Gigolo shouted. He pointed at Zero. 'You attacked me! You physically assaulted me!' He clenched his hands, then seemed to calm down. 'When we get back, I'm going to report you, and then you'll be kicked out of the clan.'

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' Elesa said.

'Huh? Why not, then?'

'Because,' Vivian said, 'If you do, chances are General Meier will decide that we're all lost causes, seeing as none of us are capable of cooperating with each other. He'll kick us all out.'

'And if that happens,' Elesa said quietly,' I will hunt you down and make you pay.'

Gigolo visibly flinched from Elesa. 'Fine,' he said. 'But sooner or later, whether I help it or not, Meier is going to kick us out of the clan. Unless,' he pointed at Zero again, 'He leaves.' Gigolo turned and walked through the door to the cockpit. 'Think about it.'

Midori turned to Zero. 'I'll try and get him to calm down.'

'You'd better,' Zero said. 'Or else he is going to get us all kicked out.'

**-4-**

Atlas brought the pelican into the torchbearers base in a lazy circle over the torchbearer base. The base was a relatively mundane affair, compared to Aspertias base. It stood several stories high, a squat black building perched half way up a mountain. A narrow road snaked up to it. The aircraft touched down on one of the upper landing pads, next to some pelicans belonging to the other clan.

'We've touched down,' Zero said over the radio.

'Confirmed,' the torchbearer leader said. 'We're bringing the convoy in through the lower entrance. See you soon.'

'What now?' Vivian asked.

'Now we just wait, I guess,' Midori said. Zero shrugged.

'Atlas?' Elesa asked.

'Yeah?' The pilot replied.

'Did you contact the Torchbearer air control?'

'Funnily enough, no,' Atlas replied. 'The convoy leader said that the long range communications had been broken for some time. He gave me clearance.'

'That's a little odd, isn't it?' Vivian said.

'Not as much as you'd think,' Zero said. 'A small clan like torchbearers doesn't have the same resources we do. It's not unheard of for them to be unable to repair transmitters and the like for some time.'

'I guess we have it easy in Aspertias,' Elesa mused.

'I always wondered about that,' Gigolo grunted. 'Why are we even allies with them if they aren't big enough to repair a damn transmitter?'

'Because,' Vivian replied, 'With our help, they will grow big, and then they'll remember us as the ones who helped them when they were weak.'

'Still seems pointless,' Gigolo grumbled.

The radio suddenly blared into life. 'Alert! We have come under attack from an unknown clan!' cried the Torchbearer leader.

'What is your status?' Zero asked, attentive.

'We've held them off, but with heavy casualties. They use energy swords, seemingly exclusively, but are very weak- they have no shields, and seem to die instantly.'

'That's odd,' Vivian said, curious.

'We're coming to reinforce you,' Zero said. He pointed to Atlas. 'You and Elesa, guard the pelican. Rest of you, with me.' He ran out of the back of the aircraft. Vivian sprinted after him, aware of Gigolo and Midori behind her. Zero ran across the landing pad and into the base.

'They're still at the bottom,' Vivian said, panting slightly.

'Where is the elevator?' Zero asked.

'Just down there-' Vivian stopped abruptly. Three Spartans stood in the hallway, their armor black, and energy swords held in their hands. They looked straight at the squad for a moment, and then charged all at once. Immediately Vivian's DMR was in her hands. Without thinking she fired at the lead Spartan. The bullet struck its head and it fell to the floor. Zero fired a heartbeat later, hitting the second spartan.

The third black spartan sprinted on, undeterred by the deaths of its comrades. It ran faster than any Vivian had seen before, so fast that she was unable to bring her rifle to bear on it. The energy sword flashed towards her, an arc of plasma death.

Abruptly the sword stopped, and then fell back as its owner collapsed. Vivian started to breather again.

'You're welcome,' she heard Gigolo say. Turning, she could see him reloading his shotgun, his smug smile visible through his clear visor.

'More from behind!' cried Midori. Vivian spun to see another group of the black Spartans sprinting towards them at inhuman speeds. She brought her DMR up and began picking them off as the ran. Zero did likewise, while Midori opened fire with her assault rifle.

'There's too many!' Gigolo shouted.

'Fall back!' Zero cried. 'Into the core room!' Vivian turned and began to run the other way. She spun into the core room. Gigolo followed her, panting. Midori and Zero both ran backwards into the room, guns blazing. Hurriedly Vivian heaved the door closed. The sound of swords hitting metal reverberated through the blue lit chamber.

'Is there another way out?' Zero asked.

'Yes, on the ceiling,' Vivian said. She brought the map of the facility up in her HUD. 'We should be able to get back to the pelican, avoiding most of the black Spartans.'

'Hey, Zero?' Gigolo called.

'What?' Zero snapped, irritably.

'Look at the core.' Vivian turned. The core was usually a blue, cylindrical machine, covered in whirring lights. The Torchbearer's core was totally changed. It was covered in black slime, and seemed deformed, twisted from its usual shape.

'What the hell is that?' Vivian wondered aloud.

'We should blow it.' Gigolo said.

'What- are you crazy? The torchbearers are our allies!' shouted Zero.

'I agree, Zero,' Vivian said. 'Something odd has happened. The core needs to regenerate.' Zero clenched his fists.

'Fine. Midori, blow it.' Midori nodded, and pulled her laser out. 'Be ready to run,' Zero ordered. The laser charged, and then fired with a searing red light. The core seemed to deflate, and then blew in a small explosion. Vivian glanced at Zero, who nodded. She turned and led the way out of the facility.

**-5-**

As darkness fell, Atlas walked into the cargo compartment of the pelican, yawning. Midori looked at him, alarmed.

'Shouldn't you be flying?' she asked.

'Nah, the autopilot has it covered.' He yawned again. 'And I'm tired as hell.'

'You can nap later,' Zero said. 'We're all going straight to see Meier.'

'Why? I need a rest,' Gigolo complained.

'Because Meier needs to know about what happened back there at Torchbearer base. Those Spartans weren't right.'

'To hell with that,' Atlas said. 'So what, they had some exotic armor mods on. Who cares? We beat them fine.'

'You can't get mods which lower shield strength, let alone remove them,' Vivian said.

'So why do we,' Gigolo said, gesturing to everyone,' Have to come as well? Can't you tell Meier this yourself?'

'You're coming, and that is final,' Zero ordered. Gigolo groaned loudly.

A loud thump indicated that the pelican had landed safely. The rear door opened and Zero walked out briskly. The rest of the squad followed him.

Zero strode confidently into the terminal, and made for the elevators. Getting more irritated, Atlas followed him in. The squad all squeezed silently into one of the cars.

When the elevator arrived at the ops room, Atlas shuffled out, doing his best to ignore the bemused stares of the people working. Zero pushed past him and walked determinedly towards the briefing room. With a groan, Gigolo followed him. Atlas and the rest walked after, trying to look as small as possible.

As Zero approached the briefing room, Meier walked out. He stopped when he saw Zero and the rest of the squad, a look of slight confusion on his face, which quickly turned to annoyance.

'What are you doing here?' He demanded.

'I have something of utmost importance to tell you,' Zero said firmly.

'And did they all have to be here to hear you tell me this?' Meier asked, gesturing at the assembled Spartans.

'I wanted their corroboration. What I have to tell you may be hard to believe,' Zero said flatly.

'Oh really?' Meier sighed. 'Proceed.'

'At the Torchbearer base we were attacked by a group of black armored Spartans wielding exclusively energy swords,' Zero began.

'Many clans use energy swords and many have black armor. I fail to see-'

'Please, sir,' Zero said, interrupting. Meier's face darkened, but he kept silent.

'These Spartans were odd, in that they had no shields and had extremely weak armor- they died in one or a couple of shots. They also ran abnormally fast- faster than any spartan should be able to.'

'So? They had some exotic armor modifications. Perhaps they were from the south, they do that kind of thing there.'

'I'm certain if you checked, you would see that no such armor modifications are available anywhere in the world.'

'Right.' Meier rubbed his forehead. 'So, you're telling me that you got attacked by some Spartans using some homemade, or new, or secret armor mods. Of what relevance is this? Surely you should have brought this up with intelligence, heck, even engineering. Why tell me?' Meier shook his head. 'Nothing went wrong this time, somehow. You all made it back, and we assume that the Torchbearer's were pleased with your performance. Their communications have been down all day. So why don't you all just piss off somewhere, and let me get back to my work?'

Meier made to move past the squad. Zero stepped in his path.

'Sir, there was something weird about the black Spartans. They didn't seem quite human. And the Torchbearer core- it was covered in some black substance.'

Meier paused. He pointed at Gigolo. 'You, soldier. Is this true?'

Gigolo was silent for a moment. Then he spoke. 'No.'

Meier turned to Zero. 'Look. Up until now I've been having a remarkably good day, which is why I've indulged your little game. But I am fast running out of patience. So either you get out of my sight, or so help me I will discipline you so hard you won't be out on another mission for a month. Do I make myself clear?'

Zero nodded. He turned and walked out of the ops center without another word. Vivian strode after him, not looking at Meier. The general watched her go, a frown on his face. He turned to the rest of the squad. 'You are dismissed.' He span on his heel and walked away. The remaining Spartans shared a look, and made for the elevator.

Atlas let out a deep breath as soon as he was in the elevator.

'I need a drink,' he said. 'Gigolo, you want to come?'

'I'll pass,' Gigolo said. I gotta get some sleep.'

'Suit yourself.' Atlas turned to Midori. 'You want to come along?'

'I think I could do with a drink,' Midori replied.

'I'll come as well,' Elesa said. 'Seeing as he isn't coming.' She nodded towards Gigolo.

'You wound me!' He said, before laughing meanly. The elevator stopped at the apartment level. 'See you later,' he said, and walked away.

'We'll meet up in 10 minutes,' Atlas said. He left the two girls and quickly changed out of his armor and into some comfortable clothes. After freshening himself up, he made his way to Harry's bar. Elesa was already there, sitting at a table in the quieter area of the bar. Atlas caught her eye and smiled at her. She made a thin smile in return.

'So,' Atlas said, sitting at the table, 'Midori tells me that you two go way back.' He smiled invitingly.

'I guess you could say that,' Elesa said quietly.

'How did you two meet? Were you in a squad together?'

'Yeah...' Elesa stared into her drink. Atlas sighed inwardly. He liked Elesa- she was pretty, with mid length brown hair and large blue eyes, and from what little he'd seen of her she was fun to be around- but he despaired of ever getting a chance to really talk to her. Atlas very rarely saw her alone- as far as he could see she only really liked spending time with Midori, and sometimes Vivian.

'I have to say, I am really jealous of your skill with rifles.' Atlas searched for something to get a conversation going. 'Midori tells me you regularly score in the top 5 in the clan for sniping skill.'

'Why would you be jealous?' Elesa asked. She wasn't looking at Atlas, instead playing with her drink. 'You're one of the best combat pilots.'

Atlas raised his hands, smiling. 'You flatter me. I'd say that being a good pilot is easier than becoming a sniper of your skill level.'

'If you say so.' Elesa took a sip from her drink, and then returned to staring quietly into it. Atlas sighed again. It was frustrating, trying to talk to someone who just didn't seem to be interested, no matter what he said. Most people liked Atlas, so it was a shock to see someone so apathetic.

'Sorry for keeping you waiting!' Atlas turned to see Midori arrive. She pulled a chair at the table and sat down.

'Hey babe,' Atlas said, smiling.

'You okay Elesa?' Midori asked.

'I'm fine,' Elesa said. She smiled weakly at Midori.

'Atlas hasn't been bullying you has he?' Midori asked, concerned.

'Hey!' Atlas cried.

'No.' Elesa shook her head, not meeting anyone's eyes.

'Just kidding,' Midori said. 'Elesa here clams up in places like this.' Elesa raised her eyes to glare at Midori, but said nothing.

'So, what were those black Spartans like? Neither of us saw them, remember?' Atlas asked.

'Odd. I mean, I'm hardly the right person to ask for a fact file about them. You'd be better of asking Vivian.'

'But what did you,' Atlas emphasized the word, 'think about them?'

Midori bit her lip. 'Well, I dunno. They had some pretty weird armor mods. You heard what Zero said to Meier. Like nothing we've seen before.'

'So do you reckon they're a clan from down south?'

'Probably,' Midori said. Her eyes widened. 'Gosh, you don't think they're some kind of invasion force, do you?'

'It's possible. I've heard that they form bigger alliances down south than they do here. One might have decided to attack us, gain more territory.'

'Why would they attack the Torchbearers?' asked Elesa. Atlas almost jumped at her voice; he had already almost forgotten she was there.

'That's a good point sweetie,' Midori said. 'Surely they'd try to gain a foothold in Nasces first.'

'They might have. I mean, it's not like our intelligence is particularly good, anyway. There's no guarantee we'd have heard about it, all the way up here,' said Atlas.

Atlas thought about it. It didn't seem too likely to him. A full scale invasion was, while possible, impractical. Because no-one ever died, the only way to conquer a clan was to essentially camp on their respawn points, killing them over and over again until they gave up and surrendered. It was very uncommon among the larger clans, as doing so required far more troops than the enemy side had, and it could take a very long time to wear the enemy down to the point of surrender. On top of that, you couldn't destroy the enemy core either, as doing so would prevent you from attacking for two days.

Elesa spoke. 'Do you want me to get you some drinks?'

'Thanks. I'll take a coke,' Midori said.

'Same for me,' Atlas added. Elesa nodded and walked to the bar. Atlas turned to Midori, and sighed.

'I really wish she would just talk more,' He said.

'She talks to me,' Midori said. 'I don't know why she never seems to talk with anyone else.' Midori glanced at Atlas, worried. 'You don't think less of her for it, do you?'

'Of course not,' Atlas replied, almost offended.

'She's a really nice person,' Midori said, not seeming to hear. 'She gets a lot of teasing from Gigolo. She probably assumes that you're out to do the same.'

'Why would she assume that?' Atlas asked, now offended. 'Unlike Gigolo, I don't take pleasure in aggravating people.'

'You hang out with him a lot. People assume that you are similar to him until they get to know you.' Midori patted his arm. 'Give it some time. She'll open up to you, I'm sure.'

Elesa returned to the table. Atlas studied her, trying to work out if she had heard any of the conversation. She looked back at him, her expression neutral.

'What do you think about these black Spartans then?' Midori asked Elesa.

'Ask Zero. He'll know.'

Atlas raised his eyebrows. 'Zero doesn't know as much as you think he does.'

Elesa raised her head and looked straight at him, her face expressionless. Atlas shifted uncomfortably.

'I think he knows more than you give him credit for,' she said.

Midori sighed loudly. 'Why does every conversation any of us have seem to turn to a discussion about Zero? Why can't we, just for once, talk about something else?' Elesa looked away. Atlas turned to see Midori glaring at him.

'What did I do?' he asked.

'You say you're nothing like Gigolo, yet at every opportunity you slag Zero off. Give it a rest already!'

'Fine, fine. Whatever.' Atlas took a drink from his glass, not meeting either of the girls eyes. He felt it was going to be a long night.

**-6-**

Vivian and Zero rode the lift down to their apartments in an uncomfortable silence. Zero was silently fuming in his head. After a while Vivian broke the silence.

'Are you still up for coming to my place tonight?' she asked. Zero's head jerked up, as if he had forgotten she was even there.

'Oh. Yes, if you don't mind,' he said.

'I think I still have some of your clothes at my apartment, so you don't have to go back to yours, if you don't want to.'

'That would be nice. Thank you.' Zero gazed vacantly at the elevator door. It opened.

'Come on then,' Vivian said. She grabbed Zero by the arm and pulled him out of the elevator. He followed for a few steps, and then stopped.

'Sorry. I have... a lot on my mind.' Zero hesitated.

'Why don't you discuss it with me, then? Better than stewing alone in your apartment.' Vivian held out her hand.

'Okay. Sure.' Zero took her hand, and she began to lead him onwards.

'So,' Vivian said, trying to make conversation. 'What do you think of those black Spartans?'

'Them? Like nothing I've ever seen before.'

'Like nothing I've seen either, though that goes without saying, I suppose.' Vivian laughed hesitantly, and then stopped when Zero remained silent. She sighed.

'They didn't seem to be very effective. They'd probably be better in larger numbers, and in close quarters,' Zero said, absentmindedly.

'Yes, I noticed that as well,' Vivian said. She stopped by her apartment door, and opened it. Her apartment was spacious for a soldier's rooms, a mark of her long service. Doors led off to a bedroom and a bathroom, and a kitchenette stood in the corner. A table for four lay between it and the door. A sofa and a television sat against the other wall.

'Their armor modifications made no sense.' Vivian led Zero into the apartment. She walked into her bedroom, and turned around. Zero was still stood by the door.

'Damn it Zero, snap out of it!' She walked over and pulled him into the bathroom. 'It's Gigolo, isn't it? That's what you're thinking about.' Zero started, guiltily. For the first time he seemed properly aware of his surroundings.

'It's just-'

'No!' Vivian grabbed his shoulders. 'Shower. Get changed. I'll put some clothes under the door.'

'Okay...'

Vivian walked back out of the bathroom.

Zero showered slowly, thinking about other things. He seemed stuck on one problem. The black Spartans were a distraction, irrelevant now. He had to sort out Gigolo. With a start Zero realized that he was obsessing over Gigolo. Zero quickly put all thoughts of the other spartan out of his head. It was things like that which had ruined his relationship with Vivian the first time, and he couldn't let it happen again. Eventually Zero finished showering and dressed.

'You took your time,' Vivian said with a smile as he walked out of the bathroom.

'I seemed to have forgotten what a good shower felt like,' Zero said, returning her smile.

Vivian laughed. 'It seems like it loosened you up a bit as well.' Zero nodded. 'Take a seat, please.'

Zero sat down, studying Vivian. She never seemed to age, like he had. She still looked as young and vibrant as the day they had first met, over 30 years ago. Zero caressed her body with his gaze, taking in her strong yet slim figure, her shoulder length brown hair, and her stern yet pretty face.

'You're staring again,' Vivian said, startling Zero.

'I don't mind,' Vivian said, a hint of a smile on her lips. 'After all, its nothing that you haven't seen before.'

Zero felt a pain in his chest. _And nothing that I'll ever see again. No matter, though. _

'Did you cook tonight?' he asked, trying to change the topic.

'Uh-huh. I know how much you like my food.' Vivian placed a plate filled with hot food in front of Zero, then set one for herself. She walked into the kitchen to collect the cutlery.

'I'm sorry.' Zero said when she came back. 'Very sorry.'

'What for?' Vivian asked, putting cutlery on the table.

'For not being quite here. Just now, I mean.'

'Don't worry about it. I know how hard Gigolo is being on you.' Vivian sat opposite Zero. 'Please, start.'

Zero picked up a sausage and tried a bite. It was really very good. Another quality of Vivian's that hadn't aged. He sighed. 'It doesn't excuse my behavior.'

'I just said don't worry about it,' Vivian replied, exasperated. 'Anyway, lets change the topic.'

'Um. Well, I hear Meier is looking to wrestle some more power from June,' Zero said.

'We won't let him. She defers to him on military matters, but when it comes to running this clan, everyone knows that June is a better president.'

'I don't know about that. Since she became president out situation with the Scorpions has only deteriorated.'

'It was going to happen anyway. The Scorpions don't bother with diplomacy.'

'That may be so, but-' Zero stopped mid sentence. Vivian looked at him.

'Is something wrong?' she asked.

'Who am I fooling?' Zero asked. 'I don't care about this sort of crap anymore. I want to talk about us.'

'Us?' Vivian said the word like it was an oath.

'Yes, us. What happened to us? Why? Where are we going?'

'Zero,' Vivian began. Zero tried to speak again but she shushed him. 'Zero, you manage to be so smart, yet you can never understand anyone else. I've moved on. '

'Then why did you invite me here, after all these years?'

'Because I wanted to see if you had as well. Until you do, you can never be happy.'

'That's...' Zero's voice faltered. Try as he might, he couldn't help but see the truth in what Vivian said. He couldn't rationalize his actions to himself any other way. 'I'm sorry. Again.' Zero put his cutlery down, and stood up. 'This was a mistake. Mine, as well as yours. Thank you for the meal.' He turned to leave.

'Zero...' Vivian called after him.

'Yes?' he answered, turning around in front of the door.

'You used to be the most amazing person I knew. You still are.'

'How?'

'You amaze me with how stupid you can be. Leave, I won't stop you.'

Zero stood at the door, silent.

'Go, then, if you're so eager to leave. Come back when you know how to laugh again.' Silently, Zero turned and walked away from Vivian.

**-7-**

Elesa awoke to a room of silence. It was how she liked it. She quietly got out of bed and tiptoed to the shower. A quick glance around the living room showed no evidence of any of Atlas's clothes scattered anywhere. He must have not come back with Midori, then.

After showering, Elesa walked over to Midori's room and poked her head round the door. Her best friend was still asleep, the covers in a knot over her body.

Elesa left the apartment she shared with Midori, quietly locking it, and then walked towards the elevator. At this time in the morning very few people were awake, and the base was near silent. Elesa savored the moment, knowing that in an hour more people would be awake and going about their business. She got in the elevator and selected the practice center.

The doors opened a short time later and Elesa walked into the foyer of the practice center. The man on the desk nodded to her; he knew not to talk to her in the mornings. She picked up a cereal bar from the dispenser and walked into the changing room.

Once kitted up in her armor, Elesa went to the target range. For half an hour she practiced sniping targets; through walls, moving, in vehicles. A few early risers came to watch her in silence. Like the man on the desk, they knew her well enough not to try and talk to her.

After some time more people started to trickle into the practice center, some of them people who knew Elesa well. As she finished her practice, a vague friend sent her a message asking her to join his combat practice. With nothing better to do, she accepted.

She ended up in a group of 16 Spartans, including herself. Two people volunteered themselves as leaders, and picked randomly to decide who was on each team. Elesa ended up on the red team. Silently she followed them into the game room.

The game room had been set up to provide a balanced map based around a jungle, meant to simulate fighting in the Eastern continent, not that anyone ever expected to go there. Two ruined stone forts stood at opposite ends of the room, holding each team's flag. The game was started, and five of the red team Spartans went to try and capture the flag, while Elesa and two others hung back to defend. Elesa found a spot perched in a tree where she could see two of the four entrances to the base.

After a few minutes, she spotted movement. A blue team spartan moved cautiously through the waist high scrub between the jungle and the base. He looked around suspiciously, as if expecting to be shot at any moment. After a few seconds, he seemed to relax slightly, and sprinted the rest of the distance to cover. Then what Elesa had been hoping to happen happened- three more Spartans moved out of the Jungle and towards the base. They jogged, obviously believing that they were safe.

Elesa held for a moment, to make sure that there weren't any more, and then fired at the spartan in cover. He was hidden by a thin stone wall at an angle to where Elesa was crouched, which provided him little cover from the bullet. He silently crumpled to the floor. Elesa then quickly alligned her sights on another spartan, but he had been warned. He dropped to the floor as the shot passed over his head. His two squad mates dived for cover in the grass. Elesa clenched her teeth, and then fired again, hitting the prone spartan.

The other two Spartans began firing back at her. One opened fire with a Battle Rifle, spraying her general direction. Elesa took a bullet straight to the chest. He shield absorbed the damage, but the forced overbalanced her and she tumbled back off the tree. Her hand shot out to grab hold of a branch, and she managed to hold on. She suddenly saw the other spartan- a female- targeting her with a sniper rifle. Abruptly she let go of the branch and fell to the floor, landing awkwardly. Ignoring the pain in her leg she rolled to her feet and aimed her sniper rifle at the female spartan. Before she could fire the other spartan managed to get in a shot. The force of the bullets sent her shot wildly off target- and by sheer chance hit the male spartan in the chest. He staggered back, and Elesa quickly finished him off with her DMR.

The final blue spartan seemed to decide she was outmatched and sprinted into the base. Elesa began to run after her, hobbled by the pain in her leg. As she ran she heard an explosion from a short distance away. Her HUD informed her that three of her squad mates had just been killed.

The inside of the base was dark and gloomy. Elesa jogged after the female spartan, knowing all too well that she probably wouldn't be able to catch up. So it was a surprise when a blue shape jumped out at her from a dark corner. A knife slashed at her face, and caught her on the side of the head. With a cry Elesa fell back, avoiding the back swing. With a curse the other spartan jumped at her, but Elesa rolled out of the way. She fired her sniper rifle blindly. The bullet missed the other spartan by a long way, but shocked her- she turned and fled again. Suddenly static crackled in Elesa's ear.

'Elesa, we need you at the west entrance- we're fighting off an attack from 4 Spartans- retreating-'

Elesa shook her head. She wasn't going to give up. She pulled herself up and followed the blue spartan. However, she hadn't seen where her enemy had gone- and she didn't know her way around the base.

After a couple of seconds, her HUD informed her that their flag had been taken. She sprinted to the central base area to see other blue Spartans running out with the red flag. Then she heard a noise behind her, and the world went dark.

As always, there was a moment of darkness- it always seemed like just a moment, regardless of how long it was in real time- and she awoke in the respawn chamber. Sighing, she stepped out and checked the clock. Only 40 seconds had passed, so she must have been one of the last on her team left alive. Elesa stepped out into the spawn room, seeing her team standing in front of her. They turned to face her, mid conversation. Elesa froze. She knew what they would say- they would be disappointed in her for failing to help; for being defeated, for many things-

'You did great out there!' one of the Spartans said. Elesa was caught of guard.

_What? But I didn't-_

'It takes rare talent to go 3-1 on a permadeath game,' another said approvingly.

_Why are they congratulating me? _

'I hope you'll be staying on our team for the next couple of games,' The first spartan said. Elesa nodded cautiously. 'Great thing! We'll meet up in 5.' The group scattered, leaving Elesa alone.

_Maybe... maybe they actually did think I did well?_ Elesa shook her head. _Then they're idiots. I could have done far better._ Elesa walked to the nearby vending machine. _Allowing myself to be congratulated by them will only make me weaker. _

She pushed the button and a coffee fell into the slot. She pulled the straw out and sucked it thoughtfully through her visor.

'Hey there Elesa,' a voice said behind her. She jumped, then turned around angrily. Gigolo was standing in front of her, a smile on his face. 'Fancy seeing you here, hmm?'

'What do you want?' Elesa said coldly.

'Must I have a reason for coming to see you?'

'You came to see me?' Elesa kept her voice calm. Gigolo squinted at her, trying to see her face through her blanked visor.

'I was going to practice anyway, but when I saw you were here I thought I'd come by and say hello. Which team are you on?'

'Blue,' She lied.

'Oh really?' Gigolo looked away for a moment. His eyes crossed. 'Looks like they have a free slot.' His eyes refocused, but Elesa had thrown her coffee in the bin and was stalking away.

By the time Gigolo realized he had been tricked, it was too late. He stood in the Blue team, occasionally glaring at Elesa. She ignored him. A couple of the other Spartans looked at them concernedly.

The teams agreed on a 12 on 12 deathmatch game, with unlimited lives. They got onto the rotation for one of the new maps, resembling a space station, broken down the middle. Elesa's team spawned at their base, and quickly drew up a game plan. Two teams of 4 would go on the hunt, with the remaining 4 splitting off and going alone. Because of her skills at working alone, Elesa was put into the latter group.

The game began and Elesa sprinted to the side of the starting area. She clambered through the field at the edge of the hangar and began to climb up the outside of the space station. After a few minutes, she found a suitable position and pulled out her rifle. From her vantage point, Elesa could see a dozen gantries and walkways, where any enemies would be totally exposed to her attacks.

The score stayed fairly even, with neither team gaining any advantage in the opening minutes. Elesa soon spotted a pair of Blues sprinting through one of the covered walkways. She aimed, paused, and then fired. Her bullet shattered the glass, and took the lead spartan in the head. The second one leaped for cover immediately, and managed to hide behind a strut. Elesa tracked upwards and fired at the join in the center of the walkway twice. The structure lurched, and the blue fell out of his cover. Elesa's last shot took him in the chest and he fell out of the walkway to his death.

Knowing that by now she would be attracting attention, Elesa prepared to move. She packed up her rifle and was about to leave when she saw a flicker. She jumped back as Gigolo decloaked and fired his shotgun at her. The blast took her in the chest and she fell onto a slanted edge of the station. Desperately, she pulled her knife and swung. She felt a sudden resistance and saw that she had caught Gigolo in the leg. With a yell he fell after her, arms flailing wildly. Elesa tumbled over the edge, missing any handholds. Suddenly she jerked to a stop, and saw that Gigolo had caught a ledge with one hand. Her knife was all that was holding her up, buried in his leg.

He swung his shotgun down and aimed at her. She knew that he could take as much time as he liked- she was trapped. Then the strut he was holding onto lurched and snapped. Elesa seized the moment and pulled herself up onto his chest. She wrenched her knife free and stabbed him in the neck as he fired at her chest. She blanked out as her body fell towards the bottom of the arena.

Elesa awoke a subjective instant later, although in reality 20 seconds had passed. She stepped out of the spawner, and then had to dive for cover as she entered the middle of a firefight.

'Elesa! Quick, get over here.!' One of the red teams was camped behind the wreckage of a saber interceptor, exchanging fire with 5 or so blues. She sprinted to the ruined spaceplane and vaulted into cover, feeling impacts as a handful of bullets hit her back. Her shields held, though.

'You have a sniper, right? Give us some breathing space!'. The leader of the red squad gestured towards the back of the hangar. 'There's a few good spots back there for you to fire from. Go, quickly!' Elesa nodded sharply, then sprinted away from the firefight. A few stray bullets passed her, but it seemed as though no-one was firing at her; instead focusing on the squad. She leaped up a flight of stairs and slid into cover on a maintenance walkway. Her heart was beating too fast. Elesa took a moment to calm down, then pulled her sniper rifle out and quickly targeted the enemies. They seemed to be hiding behind a pelican. Scanning them, she realized that she wouldn't be able to get more than one of them before they realized where she was, and hid. _Which one should I take? _

Then she noticed a decal on the armor of one of the enemies. Smiling to herself, she took aim, and fired.

Gigolo's indignant scream of rage was enough to brighten her day. She allowed herself a moment of congratulation, and then tried to pick another target. Her assumption had been correct- they were hiding themselves from her. A couple of shots buzzed up and took her in the chest. She broke cover and ran back to the stairway, but a shot took her in the leg. She staggered, and then her world went black.

She awoke immediately, and set off again.

Over the next 45 minutes Elesa killed Gigolo 17 times, often multiple times without dying. She told herself she wasn't actively trying to get him, but she found herself drawn towards him without thinking. And she found it fun to kill him. In the same period, he killed her 5 times.

The game ended when the score reached 400 kills on her side, to 320 on the other side. They blinked into the lobby again, where they shook hands with their opponents. Gigolo avoided her. As Elesa made to leave, though, he caught up to her.

'What the hell was that for!' he shouted, grabbing her. She pulled his arm off her and stared at him. Her visor was still blanked out, so he was left squinting, trying to see her face.

'What do you mean?' she asked calmly.

'You purposefully hunting me down back there! You killed me far more than you killed anyone else.'

'I can't help it if you're an easy target.' Elesa turned and began walking again.

'Wait!' Gigolo grabbed her arm. She froze, and turned to face him angrily. 'Take of your helmet.'

'What?' Elesa asked. Gigolo grabbed her head and pulled the helmet off. 'Hey!' Then he kissed her.

The kiss lasted half a second before she punched him in the face. He fell back with a cry and she kicked him in the groin. She pulled her helmet out of his unresisting grip and walked away fast.

'Elesa!' Gigolo yelled. 'I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!' She ignored his cries. 'Elesa! Please don't tell anyone!'

She turned around, and this time he could see her anger plainly. 'If you didn't want anyone to know, you shouldn't have done it.' She spat at him. 'Asshole.' She walked beyond a corner and disappeared.


	2. Fools and the Fools who follow them

**Fools and the Fools who Follow Them**

Gigolo was worried. If Elesa planned on telling someone about what he had done, it could be very bad for him. June, the president, was known to be a great feminist, and looked dimly on men forcing themselves on women. Normally, it would only be enough to get him a verbal reprimand, and probably not even from June herself, but with Decarabia teetering on the edge, it could be the last straw to get him kicked from the clan. He had to shut her up somehow.

Violence or threats wouldn't work- that would only land him in deeper trouble. Besides, he wasn't sure he could threaten her at all. He didn't have anything to use against her, besides a few rumors from men she had rejected that she was a lesbian. Not that that would worry her. He could plead with her, but she hated him anyway. He'd have to find something to offer her, something that she wanted. It pained him to admit it, but he depended on her right now. He couldn't get kicked from the clan, not now that he was getting so close to removing Zero.

A message interrupted his thoughts. It was from Vivian. He opened it, and her image flickered into his vision.

'Message to all of Decarabia squad. Meet at the hangar immediately. We have an assignment. Details when you get here.' The image disappeared. Gigolo frowned. This was unexpected. Normally they got a bit more warning before being sent out on a mission.

He stood up from his bed and dressed in his armor. He took his weapons from their stands and jogged to the elevator.

At the hangar he arrived to see everyone but Zero already there. Vivian nodded to him when she saw him. Atlas waved.

'Where's our esteemed leader?' Gigolo asked Atlas.

'Dunno. Haven't seen him since Meier gave him a bollocking earlier.'

'He's just there,' Vivian said, frowning at Gigolo. She pointed to the elevator, and Gigolo saw Zero jogging towards them. Zero slowed when he reached Vivian.

'Brief them,' he said, then walked into the pelican.

Vivian turned to watch him go, then looked back to the assembled Spartans. Gigolo, who was watching carefully, thought she seemed worried.

'Our mission is simple recon. Benzene, who we have an alliance with, have stopped responding to messages recently. We're going to check that everything is okay with them.'

'How recently?' Midori asked.

'Within the past 12 hours.' Vivian replied. 'Normally we wouldn't send a recon team until a few days have passed, but as the Torchbearers have also been out of contact, ops decided that it was better to play it safe. If it's some kind of sabotage by the Scorpions, we have to know.' Vivian paused. 'Any other questions?' Everyone shook their heads. 'Good. We leave immediately.'

The squad moved into the Pelican. Gigolo tried to avoid meeting Elesa's gaze. He could tell she was still angry with him; she kept glaring at him. He could only hope that she hadn't told anyone.

'Hey, man,' Atlas said, pausing as he walked to the cabin. 'What's up with Elesa? She keeps shooting daggers at you.'

'I'll tell you later,' Gigolo said.

'Suit yourself,' Atlas responded, shrugging. He walked into the cockpit. Gigolo watched him go with a feeling of envy. He was the only man in the squad who didn't have a girlfriend. It must be so much easier for Atlas, being in a stable relationship.

The pelican took off and flew into the clear air. They touched down about 15 minutes later, at the Benzene base. The base was a hexagonal compound, with squat buildings inside, none more than 5 stories high. As clans went, Benzene was pretty low on the tech scale. They didn't have the sort of equipment and skill that Aspertias had.

'I tried to open communications repeatedly with them,' Atlas was saying. 'I got nothing. Plus, this place looks deserted from the outside.'

The pelican had landed near the gate to the compound, a few hundred meters from the hangar.

'Check the Hangar,' Zero ordered. 'If they evacuated, their birds will be gone.' He turned to Gigolo. 'You and Midori stay here.'

'Shouldn't I be staying-' Atlas begun, but was cut off by Zero.

'Don't question my orders.' Atlas nodded sulkily. 'Lets go.' The four of them set off, leaving Gigolo and Midori behind.

'Clever,' Midori remarked when they had disappeared.

'How?' Gigolo asked her.

'He wants someone he can trust at the pelican, and as long as Atlas isn't here, nobody can leave.'

'I thought he trusted Atlas,' Gigolo said, surprised.

'He's cleverer than you give him credit for,' Midori replied. She sat heavily on the rear of the pelican, and refused to talk further.

Vivian led the way to the hangar, following the map in her HUD. Nobody stopped them, or attacked them. The base seemed deserted. They jogged in silence, none of them particularly wanting to talk to each other. After a few hundred meters, they reached one of the struts holding the elevated hangar open. Elesa scanned the inside quickly. When she gave the all clear the rest of the squad entered and began climbing the stairs.

At the top the stairs opened out to reveal the hangar, full of aircraft bearing the Benzene insignia.

'So they didn't evacuate,' Vivian said. 'At least, not by air.'

'We could check the car pool if you want to be certain,' Atlas said. 'But I don't think we'll need to.' He gestured to an aircraft at the end of the hangar. 'That's a Scorpion Pelican.'

'So the Scorpion's attacked? That's it?' Vivian asked.

'No.' Zero looked around the hangar slowly. 'This isn't an attack. For one thing, there's only the one pelican. How could a single dropship of troops take out an entire clan?'

'This whole situation feels odd,' Atlas said. 'I mean- when have you ever seen a totally empty base?'

'That's true,' Vivian said. 'If they'd been beaten, we'd either still be seeing Scorpion troops around, or some of the Benzene would have respawned already. Where is everyone?'

'No point standing around,' Zero said. 'We'll check out the Scorpion pelican, then head to the motor pool. Move!' He began to jog towards the other end of the hangar.

Gigolo was getting frustrated. Midori was being stubbornly uncommunicative, and he was bored. Zero leaving him at the pelican was a petty and stupid move- he was the squad's infiltrator, for god's sake- but also a good way of getting back at him. He glanced at Midori again. _If only it was anyone else but her. Though not Elesa. Or Zero. Or Vivian._ He sighed. Most times Atlas seemed to be his only friend in this hellhole of a squad. The rest seemed to always take Zero's side over his, even when Zero was blatantly in the wrong.

Suddenly he spotted movement and was on his feet in a second.

'What- where?' Midori asked, also on her feet.

'On the bridge to the left. 4 Spartans- Scorpions.'

'I see them.' Midori glanced to the side. 'Zero? We've spotted 4 Scorpion Spartans. They haven't seen us yet.' There was a pause. 'They don't seem to be coming this way.' She paused again.

Gigolo suddenly heard the crackle of distant gunfire. He zoomed in his vision on the Spartans and saw that one of them was firing his gun into the building they had just left. He tapped Midori on the arm and pointed.

'Hold up, Midori said. She leaned forwards. 'They're firing at something. Can't see what. No, there's no return fire.' She stopped. 'That's odd.'

The Scorpion pelican looked as though it had been left in a hurry. The rear door was open, with the lights still on and the engine idling. There were no guards, and no sign of where the squad had gone.

As Zero chatted to Midori on the radio, Vivian and Atlas gave the interior a once over. There was no equipment left lying around, but the door to the cabin was open and the controls unlocked.

'I could just take this, right now,' Atlas said. 'I mean, how hard would it be for them to lock the controls? They must have left in a real hurry.'

'I don't know about that,' Vivian replied. 'If they'd been under attack it would show. I think they just didn't expect anyone else to be around. Which is still weird.' Vivian rubbed her arms slowly. 'Say, are there any records of this happening before? Of clans disappearing without a trace?''

Atlas shrugged. 'I wouldn't know about that. You're the one who knows this stuff.'

'Worth a try,' Vivian said. She sighed heavily. 'Then I haven't a clue what went on here.'

'We need more information,' Atlas said. 'Just as soon as our _esteemed_ leader gets off the radio we can go and check the rest of the base out.'

Vivian looked straight at him. 'You and Gigolo are just the same,' She said angrily. 'Too self important to see that you're the reason this squad is having so much trouble. Zero was doing just fine until you lot came along.'

'That's not how the records show it. They show-'

'Quiet!' Zero commanded. Vivian turned to see Elesa and the other Spartan standing at the door to the pelican. 'Midori and Gigolo have seen a squad of Scorpions. We're going to go and find out what they're doing here.' He turned to Vivian. 'Can you plot us a route to the core room?'

'Sure,' Vivian said. She brought up the map in her HUD. 'Head left and out of the hangar.'

'We should go and see what they were firing at,' Gigolo said.

'No.' Midori replied. Gigolo sighed, exasperated.

'Come on Midori! We're just sitting here, waiting for our old age to come. We should be out there, finding things out.'

'Well, unless you've lied about your age all this time, you should have at least another 350 years before your old age comes. So we can wait a while longer.'

'Screw it, I'm just going alone.' Gigolo got up and made for the back of the Pelican.

'If Zero hears you've disobeyed orders, he'll find a way to get you kicked out of the clan.' Gigolo stopped. 'And then how will you be able to carry out your grand plan of taking the leadership of the squad from Zero?'

'How do you know about that?' Gigolo asked quietly.

'Oh, come on,' Midori said. 'It's obvious by the way you act around him.' She held up her hands. 'Just so you know, I don't really care who leads this squad, and I'm not getting involved in your petty squabbles. I just wanted to stop you doing something you'd regret.'

'I'd be a far better leader than Zero, and you know it,' Gigolo said. 'The man is an idiot! It's his fault that we keep screwing up, and that none of us are ever going to be promoted to a better squad.;

'It's your fault you're here, Gigolo, not Zero's.'

'Well,- yeah, but it's his fault I stayed here.' Midori shook her head, then froze.

'What was that?' she asked. 'I saw movement.'

'Huh? What do you- oh, shit.' Gigolo saw a black Spartan, wielding an energy sword, standing 20 meters away from him. It slowly turned to face him. Then it started sprinting at top speed towards him. In a flash Gigolo had his assault rifle out and began firing at the Spartan. 3 bullets dropped it, but more appeared behind.

'Midori, help!' Gigolo shouted. Midori jumped to her feet and ran towards Gigolo. 6 more black Spartans appeared from behind him. She opened fire with her rifle at them, dropping them quickly. She caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye and saw a single black Spartan flanking them. She tried to fire but her weapon clicked uselessly. With no other options she hurled the rifle at the enemy Spartan. It impacted straight in it's chest, dropping it.

Gigolo was still firing away as even more of the black Spartans appeared from nowhere. Panicking, Midori grabbed the closest weapon to hand- her rocket launcher- and used it to club away one of the attacking Spartans. She then hoisted it onto her shoulder and fired a rocket at another black Spartan. The tube rotated, bringing her second shot round, as another Spartan lunged at her. She fired on instinct. The rocket exploded in the Spartan's chest, and then the blast wave blew her to pieces.

Zero stopped running as Midori and Gigolo's signs disappeared from his HUD. The rest of his team stopped behind him.

'We just lost our way out,' he said sharply. He turned. 'We're heading back to the scorpion pelican. Now.'

'Why?' Atlas asked. 'It's not as if we need a way out. We can just kill ourselves and respawn back at base when we've found what we need.'

'Something's stopping the Benzene from respawning. That same something could happen to us,' Zero said. 'You're young, Atlas. I can't imagine permanent death sounds very attractive to you right now.'

'You don't know that's what caused it,' Atlas said, unsure.

'All of us here have at least 300 years left to live,' Vivian said. 'You have even more than that. I think we should leave now and come back with more troops- preferably a platoon or two.'

'Fine,' Atlas said. Vivian nodded and began to run back towards the hangar. She'd gone 15 paces when a black spartan jumped out in front of her, holding a glimmering energy sword.

On instinct she pulled her DMR out and shot it in the head. It collapsed immediately.

'Hostiles!' She shouted.

'More behind,' Elesa said. Vivian heard the sound of gunfire behind and turned to see Elesa finishing off a pair of the black Spartans with her rifle.

'Move it!' Zero shouted, and the squad began running again.

'More behind,' Elesa said again. Gunfire sounded. 'Lots of them,' she added.

'The hangar's just up ahead,' Vivian cried. They burst into the hangar and sprinted for the dropship, losing all semblance of order. Atlas pulled the cockpit door open and thumbed the control for the rear door.

'Get in, now!' He shouted. The rest of the squad dived through the opening as it swung shut behind them. Immediately the sound of swords on metal sounded from beyond it.

'Let's get out of here,' Atlas said, and the Pelican rose up and flew off towards Aspertias base.

Vivian wasn't the sort of person who spent much time at all in coffee shops and bars; when she was dating Zero they had mainly been to the handful of restaurants that Aspertias base boasted- the most in the northern continent, not that it meant anything- or had dinners at their apartment.

As far as she knew, Elesa wasn't the coffee shop sort of person either, so it was quite a surprise when she received an invite asking her to meet at the coffee shop, 2 hours after returning from their scouting mission at the Benzene base.

She arrived at the place- it was called Benny's, she noticed- a few minutes early, and saw that Elesa was already there, sitting at a table next to the panoramic windows looking out over the valley, shrouded in darkness. Elesa spotted her and waved her over.

'Sorry for calling you out so late. I need to talk to you,' Elesa said hurriedly, when Vivian had drawn up a seat. 'Gigolo and Midori haven't respawned yet and Zero is being debriefed by Meier so I thought now would be the best time-'

'It's fine, I understand,' Vivian interrupted. Elesa paused, and then nodded.

'It's about what's been going on with Gigolo and Atlas,' She said.

'I thought it might be,' Vivian replied. 'But go on.'

'We need to do something. Get them removed from the squad, if not the clan.'

'Realistically we'd probably only need to get Gigolo removed,' Vivian said. 'Atlas just follows his lead. He's something of an idiot that way.'

Elesa nodded. 'I don't know what Midori sees in him.' She looked out the window. 'So how would we go about removing Gigolo?'

'I've been in a similar situation before,' Vivian said. 'Before I met Zero- it would have been about 40 years ago, but the rules are the same now as they were then. We need to get everyone in the squad except Gigolo himself to say that they want him to be removed.'

Elesa groaned softly. 'I feared it would be something like that. We'll never get Atlas to agree.'

'He can be made to see sense,' Vivian said. She looked around. 'Hey, how exactly do you go about getting coffee here?'

'Go up to the bar,' Elesa said, gesturing at the bar where a single staff member was wiping some glasses, 'And order. And while you're at it, get me some as well. Black.'

'Of course,' Vivian said. She stood up and walked through the mostly deserted shop to the bar.

Elesa looked out of the window. A seat like this would be hard to get during the day, but at night, with the majority of the clan either asleep, away, or using the nightclubs, they were normally free. She came here several times a week, always at night, to relax and get away from Midori. Although at night, the view wasn't as good- darkness covered the valley, and not much could be seen beyond the moonlight reflected off rivers and snowcapped mountains.

'I got black too. Thought I'd need it.' Vivian sat down again, sliding a cup of coffee over to Elesa. She sipped it appreciatively.

'I think I may be able to convince Midori,' Elesa said. 'She is supposed to be my best friend.'

'She's going out with Atlas, isn't she?' Vivian asked. Elesa nodded. 'Then she may choose to listen to him over you.'

'She'll see sense. She doesn't much like Gigolo anyway- she's said several times how she doesn't like Atlas being friends with him.'

'I hope you're right,' Vivian replied. There was a silence as they both sipped their coffee.

'Zero will agree even if I don't ask him to,' Vivian said. 'So it's just Midori and Atlas we need to convince.'

'Yeah,' Elesa said quietly. Vivian looked at her. She was staring out of the window, a complex expression on her face. Vivian sat quietly. She didn't know Elesa very well, but she knew enough that she would gain nothing by asking Elesa what was up.

'You and Zero,' Elesa said suddenly.

'What about us?' Vivian replied, surprised.

'How did you get together?'

'Oh, that was way back,' Vivian said. 'Must have been- what, 35 years ago? Yes, it was, because I had just turned 30. We were placed in the same squad, and one day we got talking, and we hit it off, and we've been together since. Well-' Vivian's face took on a pained expression- 'It's been difficult for the past 10 years.'

'35 years,' Elesa said with wonder. 'I'm not even that old.'

'Hey, I'm still young,' Vivian said indignantly. 'Why do you ask?'

'No reason really,' Elesa said. 'Just interested.'

Vivian sat and chatted to Elesa for a few minutes before the other woman made her excuses and left. Vivian finished her coffee, and with one last glance out the window, returned to her apartment.

'So, fill me in. How did our illustrious leader get us out of that mess?'

Atlas smiled. 'He ran away with his tail between his legs.'

'Not surprising,' Gigolo replied. He stretched his arms, cracking a few joints. Atlas winced. 'Respawning has never really agreed with me,' Gigolo said, seeing his friends expression.

'Me either, but then I'm not normally on the front line,' Atlas replied.

The elevator doors opened, revealing the lobby of the command center. Gigolo and Atlas stepped out of the lift and walked towards the desk. A secretary looked up as they approached.

'May I help you?' She asked.

'Um, yeah,' Gigolo said. 'We're looking to make some inquiries about our squad.'

'Complaints,' Atlas added.

'That too,' Gigolo said, giving Atlas a look. The secretary gave them both a funny look.

'Down the hall,' She said, pointing to the left. 'Second door.' Atlas and Gigolo said their thanks and walked in the direction she had indicated.

'She was totally interested in me,' Gigolo said as soon as they were out of earshot.

'In the same way as you'd be interested in a pile of horse dung.' Atlas replied.

'Shut up,' Gigolo said. 'Like you'd know. You've been out of the game for so long you've forgotten how to pick up a chick.'

'I've been dating Midori for, like, half a year,' Atlas said. 'I think I can still remember how to get a girl.'

Gigolo rolled his eyes. 'This is the one, right?' Atlas nodded. He pushed open the door.

Inside was a small office room, with a desk and a couple of seats opposite. A short man sat behind the computer, gesturing at the screen behind him stood an instantly recognizable man.

'Just who I was looking for,' Meier said, a nasty grin on his face. Then he looked closer at the pair. 'Wait, never mind. You two aren't clever enough to be able to help me. Tell Vivian to come up here when you see her.' Atlas saw Gigolo stiffen as Meier so casually insulted them. He put a hand on his friends shoulder and tried to look confident.

'Actually, we were here for a reason, sir,' He said.

'No, really?' Meier asked. 'Well, out with it!'

'It's not something you really need to hear...' Atlas trailed off under Meier's gaze. He swallowed. 'We wanted to make a complaint.'

'About your squad leader?' Meier asked. 'Why am I not surprised?'

'Because you also know he's barely capable of looking after himself, let alone an entire squad?' Gigolo said suddenly.

'Why would you...' Meier began. The he paused. 'No, that would have been before your time.' He shook his head. 'You newbies. If you really want to get rid of Zero, then you need everyone in your squad- except Zero of course- to request him to be removed as well.'

'What! We'll never get that, not with Vivian in the squad!' Gigolo exclaimed.

'Sorry lads, protocol rules,' Meier said. He looked at the two younger Spartans thoughtfully. 'Are you sure you want Zero out?'

'Yes!' Gigolo said impatiently.

'All right,' Meier said. 'Though maybe you should try finding some out about your leader's history before you go trying to kick him out.' With a nod to the clerk behind the desk, he walked out. 'Remember to send Vivian up here,' he said as he left.

Gigolo looked at Atlas. 'Well that's a load of-' Atlas shushed him.

'Not here. Lets go somewhere we can talk about this,' he said.

Tight lipped, Gigolo followed him out of the command center and into the elevator. Atlas nodded when they were inside.

'How the fuck are we going to get Vivian to agree!' Gigolo shouted. 'This is bullshit!'

'I know, man. No need to shout,' Atlas said. 'Anyway, there are ways.'

'Like what,' Gigolo asked.

'Perhaps if we highlighted Zero's failings to her, she'd come around?' Atlas said.

'You mean if we made him mess up in front of her?' Gigolo nodded. 'I like that.'

'And if we can't get her to come around, I'm sure we can find some other method,' Atlas said.

Immediately after respawning, Midori had gone to her apartment and gone to sleep. Sleep, she felt was always the best cure for the general grogginess that came over when you were rebuilt by the respawner machines.

She slept long and well, and was irritated when she was rudely woken up by the sound of the TV in the lounge.

Muttering to herself, she pulled on a gown and walked into the lounge to see Atlas watching the news, his feet up on her coffee table.

'What the hell are you doing?' she asked angrily. Atlas gave a start.

'Huh? Oh, I wanted to see you about something, but you were asleep, and I didn't want to wake you up...' He trailed off, looking sheepish. Glaring, Midori walked to Elesa's room and checked inside. Seeing that Elesa was still asleep in her bed- unusual so late in the morning- she shut the door quietly and sat down on her sofa.

'That worked out well, didn't it?' she said sarcastically.

'Sorry,' Atlas said. 'But it is kinda important.'

'Go on,' Midori said with a sigh.

'It's about Zero,' Atlas said. Midori groaned loudly.

'Of course it is,' she said. 'You know, before you met Gigolo, you used to actually talk about interesting things once in a while.'

'Look, it's important, okay!' Atlas said loudly. Midori glared daggers at him.

'Elesa is asleep! For goodness sake, keep your voice down!' She said in a loud whisper.

'Wha- stop changing the subject! Listen. This squad is the laughing stock of the rest of the clan. Can you live with that?'

Midori rolled her eyes. 'And you think it's all Zero's fault.'

'He is the leader.' Atlas replied. 'Who else's fault would it be?'

'You don't get it, do you?' Midori said. 'It's everyone's fault.'

'Thanks for waking me up,' Elesa said, making Atlas jump. 'I'm heading out.' She paused to frown at Atlas, and then walked out the door.

'See?' Midori said. 'You woke her up.'

'Who cares?' Atlas said. Midori glared at him again. 'What do you mean, it's everyone's fault?'

'What does everyone in this squad have in common?' Midori asked. 'Oh wait, you wouldn't know, because other people don't interest you.' Atlas made to speak, but Midori interrupted him. 'Everyone in this squad screwed up in a big way.'

'What? I never-'

'Yes, you did. I know because Vivian told me.'

Atlas turned red. 'Please, never tell anyone about that.'

'I wasn't planning on it,' Midori assured him. Atlas sighed in relief. 'But it isn't just you- everyone else has as well. Maybe you should check out Zero's history- it's freely available, if you know where to look.'

'That's just it!' Atlas said suddenly. 'Why is someone who obviously screwed up big time, as evidenced by the way Meier talks to him, in charge of a squad?'

'I hardly think Gigolo would be a better leader,' Midori replied.

'Yeah, that's true,' Atlas agreed. 'I don't mean to replace Zero with him. We just need a new leader- someone who can turn our fortunes around. Don't you see?'

Midori sighed. 'I'll consider anything if it'll stop you wittering on about it.'

'Great. Just give it a minute- you'll see where I'm coming from.' Atlas stood. 'I'll see you at the bar this evening, right?'

Midori nodded. 'Yeah, sure.' Smiling, Atlas walked to the door. 'Oh, and Atlas?' He turned. 'Don't involve me in any of your- Gigolo's schemes again.' Atlas didn't know what to say as the door closed behind him.

Vivian put down the dumbbell and started stretching, having just finished an hours workout at the gym. She reactivated her vision overlays, which she had turned off for some peace and quiet while she exercised. Immediately a message came through from Meier.

NEED YOU AT OPS ROOM NOW, the message said as it flashed up in her vision. Vivian frowned. Meier rarely asked her for help any more. She stretched her arms hurriedly and rushed to the changing room to throw on some clothes. Whatever the case, it didn't do to keep Meier waiting.

5 minutes later she was walking into the ops room. The receptionist paused from her phone call to smile at her as she passed, waving towards the tactical room. Vivian smiled back and strode onwards.

'Didn't Atlas pass on my message?' Meier said as soon as she entered. A few other people, including President June, were stood around the holographic table in the center of the room.

'I haven't seen him since we got back,' Vivian replied. 'Oh- sorry. I had my implants turned off while I was exercising.'

'Keep them on at all times for the foreseeable future,' Meier said. 'We've got a situation and I'd like your opinion on it.' Vivian nodded and walked to Meier's side.

'It seems,' Meier began, 'That Zero may have been right. For once in his life.' He tapped the table and a map of the area around Aspertias base rose up. The locations of the nearby bases were highlighted; a few were flashing red.

'As you know, we lost contact with Torchbearers a while ago, as well as Benzene. We sent your squad to investigate both these situations,' Meier continued.

'About that-' June interjected. 'Why wasn't a bigger, or more competent-' Vivian's eyes narrowed '-squad sent?'

'You do realize that we are currently at war with the Scorpions, and cannot spare resources for what seem to be minor matters?' Meier said sarcastically. 'I suppose you were too busy with your hard schedule of nothing useful? Now quiet, or I'll have you sent away. This is a military matter, not a public one.' June colored, her fists clenching, but said nothing.

'As I was saying,' Meier said, 'We lost contact with both bases. Your team went to both, and both times you have reported seeing these black Spartans.'

'You wanted to ask about-' An aide tried to interject, but Meier waved him away.

'I remember! Anyway, we wanted to ask you for the footage you have of the battle, from D-4 and D-2's perspectives.'

'Midori and Gigolo?' Vivian said slowly. 'Yeah, I have it, but they were killed.'

'That's what we want to see,' Meier said.

'Fine. I'm sending it now.' Vivian linked her personal files to the ops room address, and transmitted the videos. Meier glanced at the aide, who nodded. A glazed look appeared in his eyes. After a few seconds he grimaced.

'It's as we thought,' The aide said. 'They were both actually killed by D-4's rocket blast, not the Black Spartans.' Meier sighed.

'No luck there, then,' He said.

Vivian looked around the room. 'Anyone mind filling me in on whats going on?'

'I think I'd like another run through as well,' June said. Meier turned to glare at her, a look which she returned defiantly.

'I was going to anyway,' Meier said, still glaring at June. 'Unlike some here, you're actually useful to the clan.' Vivian sighed. Meier liked June a lot better than he did some of the previous presidents- Vivian cringed a memory- but they still came to blows. Which was surprising, given that Vivian knew that Meier had been rigging the elections since the civil war.

'We didn't believe after Torchbearer's went silent, but the Benzene went as well, and now, well, see for yourself.' Meier gestured at the map, at the 5 bases which were flashing red. 'All of these bases have dropped out of communications.'

'They form a circle,' June said. 'Around Torchbearer base.'

'Well done,' Meier said patronizingly. 'Anyone else want to make a redundant statement? No? Well, let's continue. We sent two recon teams to each of the bases, about 8 hours ago. They confirmed what you and Zero said about the black Spartans. They're fast, they all use energy swords, and they die quickly. And there are lots of them.'

Vivian nodded. It fit in with what she had observed in her two encounters with the black Spartans.

'There's more, and it's bad news. For everyone.' Meier looked around the table. 'June, Vivian, everyone- from now on this is classified. Nobody outside this group hears about this until I say so. Got it?'

Vivian nodded. After a moments hesitation, June did as well.

'Firstly, we sent the teams in 8 hours ago. They both were wiped out within an hour. They still haven't respawned.' Vivian heard a few gasps from around the table.

'The respawn times vary randomly, don't they?' June asked.

'Yes, but in our recorded history there has never been a respawn wait of more than 6 and a half hours. For a wait of 7 hours to happen to 24 Spartans at once is beyond the grounds of believability. We will have to wait longer to be sure, but it may be that they are dead. Permanently.' There was another murmur.

'Hence why you wanted to check how Midori and Gigolo died,' Vivian said.

'Yes. If they had been killed by the black Spartans, it would have suggested that the death wasn't permanent in at least some cases, but it seems they were just lucky.'

Vivian glanced at June. She had gone pale. She was a strong woman, Vivian knew- but this was shocking news. Vivian was surprised by how well she was taking it.

Every spartan, whatever their clan, had a 400 year lifespan, at least, to look forward to from the day they were born, appearing at the core in their birth base. To have that cut short was horrifying. Vivian could understand how June was feeling. If the news was released to the rest of the clan- the chaos would be as bad at least as the civil war 20 years ago. Vivian still had over 300 years of her life left- she didn't want to die before all of those years were used up.

'There were these black Spartans- actually, let's call them blackheads, it rolls easier- all over Benzene base,' Meier said. He seemed unfazed by the news, but then he had seen a lot in his life. 'But the squad at Torchbearer base reported far fewer. Also, the core was gone. Just vanished, like it had never been there.'

'We destroyed that core,' Vivian said, an idea forming in her head.

'You did, which suggests that the blackheads spawn from the core. And before you ask, because I can see the question on your lips,' Vivian frowned- she wasn't that easy to read, surely- 'the core at Benzene was covered in black, like tar, and seemed deformed. Just like at Torchbearer base.'

'So, are we to assume that the Benzene and Torchbearers are gone?' June asked. 'Just like that? All dead, along with those other three clans?'

'Yes,' Meier said simply. He tapped the table, and a red circle appeared around the bases. 'This is where the blackheads are now, at best. If we extrapolate from the times the bases dropped out of contact, the blackheads will reach us,' he paused, and the red circle expanded until it touched the symbol marking Aspertias, 'in about 2 days.'

Vivian noticed that there was no murmur or gasp this time. No matter that they were facing something that they had never seen before, something with the capability to kill permanently and wipe clans off the face of the planet, they were all warriors, and they knew how to fight. Now that they knew the details of their enemy, they could fight it. She felt a strange pride for her clan. But there was something she had to say.

'I don't know if you realized this- if you did, the simulation didn't show it well- but this expansion is going to be exponential. The more bases that fall, the faster they will multiply.' Vivian looked at Meier.

Meier nodded slowly. 'Continue,' he said.

Vivian pressed on. 'If we do nothing- even if we just defend- we will seal our own doom. Right now they only have four cores to spawn from. That number is going to increase unless we do something about it. We know that they can be fought, and we know how to beat them- destroy the core.'

Meier smiled. 'Go on. I've come up with my own plan, but I want to hear yours.' Everyone was looking at her, Vivian realized. Even June- someone she hardly knew- was staring at her.

'We need to stop them from gaining any more cores, and remove the cores they already have. Firstly, I recommend that we send messages to all the clans- not just our allies, all of them- nearby, warning them of the threat. We may not miss the scorpions, but if their base falls we'll have a worse enemy to fight. If any bases do fall, we need to get as many of their troops to safety, assuming they'll fight for us. Manpower is going to be a valuable resource in this war.'

'Second, we need to form strike teams to infiltrate the bases and neutralize the cores. My squad managed to do it, so I'm sure the more competent teams will have no trouble with it.' The last was said with a sharp look at June.

'I saw the response we had to the news that death from these Spartans is permanent. Telling the public this will cause panic, and people will refuse to fight. We need to hide this from the rest of the clan for as long as we can.'

'We can't lie to the rest of the clan forever,' June said. She seemed angry about the idea.

'No, but no need to tell them something that will only increase the chance of their deaths,' Meier said. He nodded to Vivian. 'Good analysis. My intention was to release a statement informing the clan about the threat, and the danger it poses to the clan, but leave out the part about permanent death.'

'I suppose that's where I come in?' June asked, sighing. 'I'll do it, but for the record, I'm not happy about this.'

'Nobody cares,' Meier said. 'Well, if we're all in agreement, then we should conclude this meeting. There are still several things we need to discuss, but that can be left for the meantime.' June turned and walked away without a word. 'You stay,' Meier told Vivian. He waited until the aides had walked out, and then turned to her.

'I want you back as my adviser,' he said. 'The years haven't dulled your skill- you're as good a tactician as you ever were. I need you, Vivian.'

'Will Zero get his place back as well?' Vivian asked.

'No. I won't have someone who opposed me openly at my side.'

'I can't leave him,' Vivian said. Meier sighed, and she continued. 'He needs me.'

'Very well. I know better than to force you.' Meier sighed once more. 'If you change your mind, I'll be waiting.' Vivian nodded. 'Goodbye, Vivian. It was nice to see you- for real.'

'You too, Meier. You too.' Vivian smiled, and walked out.

The files appeared in Zero's Inbox as he lay in bed, in an email entitled 'Miss airs her dirty laundry.' Zero immediately sat up when he saw the title. He hadn't chosen it, but knew that it was a code for transmissions from his old civil war comrades. He didn't know who it came from- there was no sender address- but it must be important for one of the few one time codes they'd made when it was clear they were losing to be used.

Zero opened the file cautiously. It was an audio file, several minutes long. He set it to play. The soundtrack began to play, and he heard several voices. He recognized Meier's, and Vivian's as well as the voice of June, surprisingly. Her getting in to power was one of the 'resistance's' great accomplishments in the past few years. Meier had no idea that she was really a staunch universalist supporter.

When the audio file finished, Zero's heart was beating fast. He knew a number of people who would want to act on the information, use it to drive Meier and his militarists out of power. Zero had no intention of helping them- he had long since stopped supporting the Universalists- but he was already making plans. If what he had heard was true, then he and his squad were in great danger. Zero began mentally making a list of people who owed him favors. He was going to have to call all of them in if he wanted to get out alive.

Elesa was deep in thought as she entered the apartment she shared with Midori, which was why she didn't immediately notice Midori sitting on the sofa, reading.

'Sup?' Midori asked as Elesa walked past, oblivious. Elesa gave a start and looked around, quickly spotting Midori. She sighed quietly.

'Sorry. Just a little on edge,' she explained.

'That's fine doll,' Midori said. 'Wanna talk about it?'

Elesa hesitated. Midori was her best friend. She should be able to tell her important things. That was what friends did, wasn't it?

'It's... about Gigolo,' She began. Midori rolled her eyes.

'What isn't these days? You know, I had Atlas in here not 2 hours ago giving me some spiel about how Gigolo would be such a better leader that Zero. To be honest, it's both of them that's the problem. I say if we can't decide between them, just kick 'em both out and be done with it.'

'That wasn't quite what I was going to say,' Elesa said carefully. Atlas was trying to bring Midori over to his side? That was worrying. In any case, it wouldn't do to say something to Midori about it now; she would only get frustrated.

'The other day, in training... Gigolo tried to kiss me.'

'Something so simple?' Midori said. 'Just slap him and be done with it.'

'I did,' Elesa said, which Midori smiled at. 'It's just... now he's avoiding me.'

'How would you notice? It's not like you ever spend time with him anyway.'

'No, I mean- I saw him in the south hall, coming back from the gym, and as soon as he saw me he gave a little jump and quickly walked down a side passage.'

'Ah. Sounds like he's realized there are probably going to be repercussions. Have you told anyone else?' Elesa shook her head. 'Good.' Midori leaned over and patted Elesa's arm. 'My advice is let him stew. Eventually he should break down and come to apologize. If not, I'll give him a stern talking to.'

'Thanks,' Elesa said. 'I...' she trailed off. Midori smiled invitingly, but Elesa didn't say any more. Midori gave a mental shrug and lay back on the sofa. Elesa was still standing thinking when the TV switched itself on. The clan logo showed, and then the image showed president June standing at a podium. An official announcement.

'I have some important, and disturbing, news to share with you, my fellow clan members,' she began. Elesa turned to stare at the screen. Midori sat forward. Official announcements were fairly rare, and always important.

'As some of you know, recently we lost contact with several allied clans. We now know that this was not due to faulty equipment, or an enemy clan, but to a new type of enemy, hostile to all life on the planet. They have shown their only desire to be the destruction of clans and the death of all of us.'

Elesa watched with some frustration. Why couldn't politicians ever just give you the facts, rather than hiding everything behind layers of hyperbole and build up?

'These enemies take the form of black clad Spartans wielding energy swords. They are very fast and agile, but weak- they die from a few bullets.'

'Like the ones we faced,' Midori said. Elesa nodded, not taking her eyes off the screen.

'Their strategy seems to be to attack and overwhelm bases, much like we do. However, when they get to the core they corrupt it, turning it into a machine which they use for their own reproduction. This, it seems, causes the destruction of the clan, meaning that anyone in said clan who dies... later dies permanently. They can be stopped, however, by destroying the cores of bases they control and preventing any more from being captured. We are working together with our allies to set up defenses to ensure that no more clans fall to this enemy.' June paused. 'This is a crisis with the potential to destroy our civilization, a crisis none of us could have foreseen. It is an outside context problem in that respect, and we need to work together to prevent it from spiraling out of control. I hope I can rely on all of you.' June made a bow, and then the image disappeared. The TV turned off.

Elesa glared at the screen. Another problem, on top of all the others she had to face. With an angry mutter she walked into her room and closed the door.

Midori leaned back thoughtfully. A new enemy with the power to destroy clans. The implications were worrying, to say the least.

Gigolo was already waiting in Harvey's when Atlas walked in, engrossed in thought. He saw his friend waving out of the corner of his eye and wandered over, pulling up a stool next to Gigolo.

'You're late,' Gigolo said.

'And a good day to you too,' Atlas replied. 'What was it you wanted to talk about?'

'You first,' Gigolo said. Atlas shrugged.

'Fine. It's good news, I guess. I talked to Midori about our little problem.'

'And she agreed?' Gigolo asked eagerly.

'Not quite. I think I actually pissed her off slightly. But she did agree to think about it.'

'And that's good news?' Gigolo asked.

'Be patient, there's more. Sheesh.' Atlas waved over a bar attendant and ordered a drink. He liked Gigolo, but sometimes his friend was so irritating.

'Well go on,' Gigolo said.

'Midori said something about everyone in the squad having made some kind of huge mess up, which is supposedly why we're here.'

'How is that helpful?' Gigolo asked.

'Because if we can find out what Zero did, then we may be able to use it to our advantage.'

Gigolo looked thoughtful. 'I don't suppose Midori told you what it was?'

'No. But she did say that it was somewhere in the public domain, so we could find out for ourselves. But she didn't give me any clue of where to start.'

Gigolo sipped his drink thoughtfully. Atlas took his drink from the attendant and did the same.

'If we can find out what everyone did, then we'd be able to blackmail them.' Atlas stared at Gigolo, shocked.

'What? Why would we need to do that?'

'Lets face it- Vivian and Elesa aren't going to help us of their own free will. We need something to give them an incentive.'

'I don't know, man. Blackmailing is pretty low.'

'Well, we may or may not need to resort to that,' Gigolo said. Atlas made a noncommittal noise. 'Oh yeah- about why I asked you here. The other reason, I mean. It's to do with Elesa.'

'Oh yeah?' Atlas gave his friend a glance.

'Yeah. You see, I kinda fucked up.' Gigolo was kneading his palms.

'How so?'

'I- well, I've sorta always liked her, and when I saw her after training one day, I just couldn't help it...'

Atlas stared at his friend again. 'You did what!?'

'I kissed her!' Gigolo hung his head. Atlas stared for a few moments, and then burst out laughing.

'Oh geez, you really had me going there for a minute,' Atlas said while laughing. Gigolo looked at him, an expression of some horror on his face.

'Why are you laughing?' he asked, all serious.

'Dude, I thought you were going to say you forced yourself upon her or something.'

'Well... I kinda did...' Gigolo trailed off, unsure of himself.

'It was just a kiss, man. No biggie. If you're really worried, go apologize or something. Hell, I could talk to her for you, or get Midori to.' Gigolo shook his head.

'Not Midori. I know she'd take it badly. She's so protective of Elesa.' He sighed. 'I'll apologize when I get the chance. It's just...'

Atlas slapped Gigolo on the back. 'Hey, if we didn't have all this shit to worry about, I'm sure you'd get along just fine with her. After all this has blown over, then we'll see about setting you up with her.'

Gigolo smiled gratefully at Atlas. 'Thanks.'

They sat in silence for a short while, and then were surprised when the TV in the corner of the bar turned on to show president June standing behind a podium, looking serious. She began speaking, and within a few seconds the whole room was silent, an unusual occasion in the most popular bar in the clan.

After June had stopped speaking and gone off air, it took only a few moments for the general hubbub to reach its previous level. Gigolo smiled.

'So Zero was right about those black assholes,' He said. 'Who'd have thought it?'

'I don't know quite why it required an official announcement,' Atlas said. 'I mean, it's serious and all- if they have the ability to wipe out clans- but really it's not much different to any of the other clans we've been at war with over the years.'

'They gave an official announcement when we declared war on Scorpions, didn't they?' Gigolo asked. 'But I see what you mean. Those guys are piss easy, just open up with an Assault rifle and spray. They go down like you that one time you drank a bottle of Vodka.'

Atlas frowned at Gigolo. 'Firstly, it was more than a bottle. Secondly, if they're so easy, why did you get killed by them at Benzene base?'

'We were jumped, plus we were totally exposed. Oh, and Midori's shooting sucked. I swear she killed us both when she fired that second rocket.'

'Hey! That's my Girlfriend you're trash talking!' Gigolo laughed, and after a few moments Atlas joined in. Within a few minutes they'd forgotten the announcement completely.

Zero wandered through the corridors of the base, thinking about what he was going to say. All too soon he was outside the door of the place he really didn't want to go. Sighing, he checked his watch and saw that it was time. Too bad he couldn't put it off, but knowing Haru if he tried to delay she'd only be more angry when he said what he really needed to say.

With a little trepidation, he knocked on the door. After a moment it was opened by a read headed girl, wearing a white dress that showed off her body. The image it gave was contrasted by the cold look in her eyes, an appraising look that made you want to put on an extra layer of clothes.

'Hello Haru,' Zero said, trying to summon up enthusiasm. It failed.

'Hello Zero,' Haru replied in a cold tone. Zero almost flinched before remembering that it was her normal voice. 'Long time.' She flicked her head backwards. 'Come in.'

Zero followed slowly, shutting the door behind him. Haru's room was modest, smaller than his own apartment, with only a bed, a sitting chair, a desk with a computer and a small washroom. Haru picked a book off the sitting chair and sat down, indicating for Zero to pull over a chair from the desk.

'Marco told me you wouldn't come,' Haru said when he'd sat down. 'He thinks that you've abandoned us.' Zero bit back what he'd been going to say. He really hated Haru. Even then they'd been fighting together, 20 years ago, he'd disliked her. She and Marco had been horrible people to work with- manipulative, uncaring, mean. It didn't help that she'd strung him along once, before heartlessly throwing him away. That thought made him angry for a moment- and she talked about him abandoning her!- but to Haru the job came first, always.

'You saw the message, I assume?' Haru said, and Zero realized he'd been holding his breath.

'Yes, but I'm not sure I was meant to.' He decided to try and edge towards what he wanted to say, ease her into it gently.

'Why? You're still technically one of our captains, even though you've been inactive for 20 years.'

'Well, you see, I'd thought I'd been taken off that list. Getting the message was the first I knew of it. Then you contacted me.'

'Why would you have been taken off the list?' Either Haru didn't realize what he was alluding to or she was trying to do something else. Either was as likely. She shook her head. 'We need to act on this information. I don't think anyone knows we have it, yet, but the longer we wait the more likely we'll be found or it will come out from another source.'

'What were you planning?' Zero asked.

'We want June to make a public announcement. Say she was forced to keep quiet by Meier and his militarist supporters, but she believes that the rest of the clan deserves to know. The people will rise up with us, and overthrow Meier, creating a new, better government.' Haru was shouting now. 'It will be what we have been fighting for, all these years.'

Zero stared at her. Was she crazy?

'Haru, you're crazy if you think that will work. Now is the worst possible time to try and overthrow Meier! Come on, you saw what was in that message. If we weaken the clan with yet another civil war, we'll all be killed permanently.'

Haru shook her head. 'Not if we act quickly enough. I am confident Meier can be disposed of within a day.' Zero tried to speak, but she interrupted. 'This is the best chance we've had in years, the best chance we'll ever have! We can't let it go by! So what if it's risky? We have to take risks to make a better life for ourselves, that's what we've always done!'

Zero looked at her, and then averted his eyes from her piercing gaze. He slowly shook his head.

'I'd rather live in the society we have now than waste it trying to 'improve' it,' he said. Haru sighed loudly.

'What happened to you? You used to be some passionate, so devoted to the cause. Where did that man go?'

Zero suddenly felt angry. He wasn't going to be manipulated by her, or anyone else anymore. He'd promised himself that.

'That man wasn't me. He was a fool. He mostly disappeared when Meier crushed my squad and threw me in jail. A bit more of him left when I had to watch Vivian get hurt because of my actions. What was left of him after that went when I finally got out and saw how nothing had changed. All you're ever going to achieve is hurting people. You won't make life better for the ordinary clan members. You won't help anyone.'

Haru nodded, seemingly to herself. 'Yes, that's what Marco said you'd say. I foolishly held out hope that you wouldn't have been changed by 20 years of being Meier's little bitch.' She tapped her cheek. 'You realize that we can't let you go now that you know.'

'I don't see how you're going to stop me,' Zero said. Haru gazed at him. 'I won't do anything to help or hinder you. In return, I want your promise that you'll leave me alone.' Haru said nothing. 'Well?'

'If you say anything, you'll go down as well,' Haru said.

'The same applies to you,' Zero replied. Haru smiled.

'So it does.' She didn't seem convinced.

'I'm leaving,' Zero said. He stood up and walked to the door. 'Please don't contact me again,' he said as he walked away. Haru watched him leave, a calculating expression on her face.

'Ah, Vivian,' Meier exclaimed jovially as Vivian walked into the meeting room. He was sat at the same table as before, this time flanked by two men who Vivian didn't recognize. 'Now that you're here, we can start. We're discussing tactics today.'

'Who is this?' Asked the man on the right, a gray haired man who must have been at least 350. He had a harsh face, currently glaring at Vivian.

'This is that tactician I was telling you about, Vernon. Her name is Vivian.' Vernon looked suspiciously at her for a moment, and then shrugged.

'Well, if she's as good as you say, I suppose it doesn't matter what she looks like,' he said.

'This old geezer is Vernon,' Meier said. 'He's the leader of the Steel Templars.'

'Pleased to meet you,' Vivian said cautiously.

'And this,' Meier said, indicating the other man, 'is Tomalon. A big hit with the ladies, and still a half decent general. He's the chief of the Vermillion's army.'

Tomalon smiled at her. He was young, younger than Meier by a couple of decades, with thick brown hair and a kindly face. 'I've been hoping I could meet you since Meier told us about you,' he said, offering a hand. Vivian shook it.

'A pleasure to meet you to,' she said. Vernon frowned, and made a comment to Meier about young people. Vivian didn't quite catch it, but Meier smiled, and then suddenly looked serious.

'Now, you all know the details.' Meier tapped the table, and the same map came up. The red circle was slightly larger this time. 'Blackheads spreading, permanent death, end of civilization, yada yada. What we're here for is to make plans about how to avert this. As is obvious, we need to get rid of the cores that the OCP currently holds.'

'I'm sorry- what's the OCP?' Vivian asked.

'Huh? Oh, its the name we've given to this crisis. It stands for Outside Context Problem.'

'It simply means that it's a problem that we've never faced before and couldn't have prepared for because we simply had no idea it could exist,' Tomalon said.

'Yes, quite,' Vernon snapped. 'Now, can we get on?' Meier nodded.

'Right. So, as we all agree, we need to destroy these cores. I recommend small strike teams dropping in and making their way straight there, and then getting evacuated as soon as possible.'

'That doesn't fix the problem of the blackheads which already exist,' Vivian pointed out.

'If they capture another core then we'd be back to square one,' Tomalon said.

'This is true, and brings me- slightly quickly, but no matter- onto the next problem- defense.' Meier frowned. 'Obviously, we need to eliminate all of the blackheads if we're going to properly solve the problem, but hunting them down will be costly. Their speed and agility gives them an advantage indoors and in tight places, so clearing bases conventionally isn't a good option.'

'We should simply bomb the bases,' Vernon said. 'Much less of a hassle.'

'We could do that, but that doesn't guarantee that all of the blackheads will die, and then we've got to clear out an even worse mess,' Tomalon said.

'If we could somehow lure them into the open, we could kill them easily,' Vivian said. 'They can't attack at range, so they'd be sitting ducks for aircraft.'

'Good thinking, but we'll need something to lure them with first,' Meier said.

'We know they're attracted to people,' Vernon said. Vivian glanced at him in alarm. How could he suggest such a thing?

'And cores,' Tomalon said. 'Which is a slightly less horrible alternative.'

'I'll pass on our ideas to a think group,' Meier said. 'This meeting is macro scale thinking.' He pulled out a tablet and checked something on it. 'How do we defend our bases from their attacks?'

'They're fast, but weak. Some kind of killing gallery would work.' Vernon looked around. 'Any suggestions?'

'We could have a long corridor leading from a single ground level, with gantries above that people can fire from,' Tomalon suggested. 'Can they climb?'

'Not as far as we've seen,' Meier said.

'They have energy swords,' Vivian said. 'Couldn't they just burn their way through any maze we set out for them?'

'Again, I'm not sure. This is beyond the scope of this meeting, but as far as we've seen the individual blackheads aren't very clever. They just seem to follow each other around normally, and move towards the nearest base or human. I think climbing and cutting- and throwing their energy swords, that was the other suggestion someone came up with- is beyond them.'

'So a maze idea is good?' Tomalon asked. 'We'll need to start building soon. Vermillion is nearly as close to the OCP as Aspertias is.'

'We can discuss it further in later meetings,' Meier said. 'Next, individual engagement tactics.'

'We need to make survival a top priority,' Vivian said. 'Come up with plans which ensure the survival of as many soldiers as possible, so we have more to fight next time.' Meier and Vernon both looked unhappy with the idea. Vivian guessed that neither of them had placed much importance on it before. However, neither of them complained.

'Some of your soldiers were able to escape death when they fought by killing themselves, weren't they?' Tomalon asked. Meier nodded. 'Then tell them to do that.'

'That's not possible,' Meier said. 'People will start to wonder why, and they might realize that we're holding something back. We need to avoid the public finding out that the blackheads are capable of killing people permanently.'

'Why?' Vernon asked. 'They're going to find out at some point anyway.'

'It's different for your clan- and yours too, Tomalon. They're both reasonably politically stable. We're still recovering from a civil war we had 20 years ago, and recently we've been seeing some worrying activity from what is left of the losing side. That information would throw us over the edge- we simply can't risk it.'

'You wouldn't see that in _my_ clan,' Vernon grumbled.

'So, no suicide,' Vivian said. 'Are you sure? If a lot of people start dying, it'll become much harder to cover up, like you did with the recon teams.' Tomalon nodded.

'It's a no-win situation,' He said. 'Seeing as it's going to come out anyway, I'd say tell them, but it's your choice.'

'We'll think about it,' Meier said. 'Next-' he was interrupted suddenly by an alarm. There was a hurried knock on the door and then a secretary burst in.

'Sorry general!' he said as soon as he saw Meier's glare, 'But this is important! Cortex base is under attack by the blackheads, and they say they can't hold them.'

Meier nodded. 'I see. Now, get out!' With a hurried bow, the secretary ran from the room.

'That's troubling,' Vernon said. 'It will make it harder on us if we just let them die.'

'We should send a group of evacuation pelicans,' Vivian said. 'And a squad to destroy the core while they're at it.'

'They won't want to join you,' Tomalon mused. 'They're allied to the Scorpions.'

'They'll see they have no choice when their base falls,' Meier replied. 'We'll do what Vivian says.'

'I volunteer my squad for the evacuation duty,' Vivian said. Meier looked surprised.

'Why?' he asked.

'Zero is still a good leader. Give him a chance to do something- we've been sitting around for the past couple of days, while everyone else has been out on missions.'

Meier considered the proposal. Finally he nodded. 'Alright. But you stay here, you're to valuable to risk.' Vivian thought about arguing for a moment, but then decided against it. She nodded. 'If that's settled,' Meier said, 'let us continue.'

'I don't see why we're helping these assholes anyway,' Gigolo said. 'I mean, remember Monad pass, 2 years ago? They massacred one of our units in a surprise attack. No honor in it at all.'

'Shut up, Gigolo,' Elesa said. 'Besides, what would you know about honor?'

'Hey, I-'

'She said shut up,' Zero said. 'So shut up.'

'Just piss off Zero,' Gigolo replied. 'I don't care about what you have to say anymore.' Zero sighed.

'That's not a good attitude to take to Meier when you try and get him to demote me,' he said. 'Meier looks for intelligence and likeability in his officers, two qualities you seem to lack.' Zero saw Gigolo share a panicked look with Atlas through the open cabin door. 'I do have friends in the Ops room, you know.'

Normally Zero would have been worried by the knowledge that two members of his squad were trying to get him removed from the clan, but it didn't matter so much anymore. There were more important things happening, and in any case there wasn't really enough time left for what they were trying to do to happen. He planned to be in Nasces within a week, if not on the central continent.

Gigolo was looking embarrassed, but quickly turned to anger. 'Don't think that just because you know we'll stop trying,' he warned. Zero nodded absently.

'I think you could stand to improve your punctuality as well,' Midori said. 'While we're still on the topic of ways Gigolo could improve.'

'Were we ever on that topic?' Atlas asked, smiling.

'Well, it's annoying me,' Midori replied. Gigolo glared at both of them.

'If you must know, I was asleep,' he said hotly. 'Being killed by our leaders awful plans has messed up my sleep cycle.'

'Give it a rest!' Elesa said. 'Are you even capable of talking about anything else?' Gigolo turned a bit redder. Zero watched with interest; he'd noticed Gigolo acting funny around Elesa recently- not that he saw them together much anyway- while Elesa seemed to be getting harsher on Gigolo. Well, if it made her speak up a bit more, it was fine by him.

The conversation moved on, mainly between Midori, Gigolo and Atlas. Like him, Elesa kept quiet; she looked like she was thinking about something. Zero didn't feel like talking. Right now, the only person he wanted to see was Vivian, but she'd been busy for the past day or so. Plus, if she got wind that he knew the things the ops room was trying to keep secret, she'd probably tell Meier, and he didn't trust himself to be able to keep that secret if the conversation turned that way.

Zero sighed. Sometimes it seemed that everyone he met was at best trying to make his life hell, and at worst trying to actively kill him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud beeping from the cockpit.

'Oh, shit,' Atlas swore. 'The fuel line to the right thruster just went.'

'Is that bad?' asked Midori.

'Not unless it catches fire,' Atlas said. There was a small bang. 'Crap.'

'What's the situation?' Zero asked, getting to his feet.

'I've lost the right thruster. It should be okay... wait, no it won't. I'm losing altitude.' Zero looked around. They didn't seem to be in any kind of death spin, which was probably a good sign.

'Can you fix it?' He asked.

'Not up here. I'm going for a soft landing. Once we're down I'll be able to fix it in half an hour probably, but we'll have to head back to base.'

Suddenly Zero realized something. Cortex was on the other side of the area currently occupied by the blackheads- so they were currently inside that area themselves.

Apparently Elesa had been having the same thoughts, because she said the same.

'Huh? Well, if they come I guess we'll just kill a few and then respawn back at base,' Midori said. Elesa nodded.

'It'll be a pain to lose the bird though,' Atlas said. 'I've spent a good length of time fitting it out.'

_Oh, shit, shit..._ Zero screwed his eyes shut. They didn't know. It was almost comical to hear them shrug of the idea of being killed by the blackheads so easily. But could he tell them? If he did, then certainly Gigolo at least wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, assuming they survived.

Another piece of information came to his mind. Part of the reason Gigolo was so nonchalant about the fighting the blackheads was that he had already fought them, and come back- or so he thought. But Zero knew that he'd just been crazily lucky, and died to Midori's rocket blast, not the blackheads themselves. So could he use that to his advantage? If they were cornered, perhaps he could use Midori's rocket launcher and kill the rest of the squad himself. If they were; he was still hoping that they'd be able to fix the pelican in time.

With a thud the pelican came to rest on the earth. It wasn't a hard landing; certainly not by the likes Zero had felt in his life.

'Alright then,' Atlas said. The back door came down, and Zero saw that they had landed on the side of a barren hill. A small track ran past where they had landed, up to a cave a few hundred meters beyond them.

Atlas came out of the cockpit and began slowly gathering up some tools from the lockers. To Zero's eyes, he seemed to be moving at glacial speed. Worry and frustration bubbled within him; he couldn't hold it in. 'Hurry up!' he snapped.

'Hold on,' Atlas said with a hurt look. 'I'm moving as fast as I can.'

_'No you're not,' _Zero almost said, but held it in. Instead he started pacing back and forth up the row of seats. His worry wasn't so much that he'd tip one of the squad off- they had no clue- but that someone watching the footage would guess from his actions that he knew something. It was unlikely, but Zero couldn't afford any risks.

Eventually Atlas got his tools together and walked outside to begin work on the engine. Zero snapped at Elesa and Midori to set up a watch, which they did with questioning looks at him. Of course they would; he wasn't normally this harsh. If only they knew why, then they'd be obeying without question. Eventually his internal rant was interrupted by Elesa.

'I see something,' she said.

'What!' Zero shouted. 'Uh, what is it,' He said again in a more normal tone.

'It looks like a group of Spartans... yeah, they're blackheads. They're moving too fast for normal people. Doesn't look like they're coming this way.'

_Shit!_ Zero wanted to scream. Instead he forced himself to walk to Atlas.

'How long?' he asked with forced calm.

'It's worse than I thought,' Atlas replied. 'The fuel links totally bust. Which is odd,' he said as he stood up, 'because I checked it a week ago.'

Something in Zero's mind connected there. Could it be sabotage? _Haru!_ He shook his head angrily, and then stopped when he realized what he was doing. Well, that was something to worry about if- _When!- _they got back to base.

'Can you fix it here?' He asked.

'Probably not,' Atlas replied. 'I'd need some components we don't have here.'

'So you really mean no?' Zero snapped.

'Uh, yeah,' Atlas replied. He seemed confused by Zero's attitude. 'Our best bet is to set off a distress signal. There are supposed to be other squads out on the rescue mission, aren't there?'

'Yes, but thanks to Gigolo here, we're an hour behind them!' Zero tried to hold in his frustration. 'Okay, set the distress beacon, and link the pelican computer to our suit computers.' He turned to Elesa. 'What can you see?'

'They're coming this way. They'll be here in 5 minutes.'

'How many?'

'About 300.'

Zero felt a sinking feeling. There was no way they could hold off that many. He could just take Midori's rocket launcher and try to kill them all himself, but that would look very strange, and besides one of them would probably try and fight back before he could kill them all.

'Okay, we're abandoning the pelican. Up the hill and into that cave entrance.'

The squad muttered among themselves, but surprisingly went along with it, even Gigolo. They jogged up the hill in silence and entered the cave, which turned out to be some kind of old coal mine.

'Did they look like they'd seen us?' Midori asked suddenly. Elesa shook her head.

'They were coming this way originally.'

'Then we could hide in here,' she suggested. 'Then wait for them to leave or our distress call to be picked up.'

'Good idea,' Zero said. 'We'll move deeper in.' The squad continued into the mine, with Gigolo in the lead and Elesa at the rear. It occurred to Zero suddenly that there might be blackheads in the mine- who knew where they hid?- but none came jumping out to end his life.

Eventually they reached a dead end, in a tunnel with huge seams of coal running along the walls.

'Here's as good a spot as any,' Zero said. It wasn't a good spot by any normal reckoning, but he'd seen something which made it perfect for his needs.

'There was a better one just back,' Gigolo said. 'We should-' Atlas shushed him.

_Huh,_ Zero thought. Maybe the squad was picking up on his worry. It would explain how uncharacteristically subdued they all were.

'Uh... Gigolo, you and Atlas go in front with your assault rifles. Midori, in middle. Elesa, you and me at the back- pick them off with your DMR.' The squad acquiesced with only a slight grumble from Gigolo about favoritism. They stood in formation for the next few minutes, until the sight Zero had been dreading appeared.

A white gleam appeared at the far end of the tunnel. After a few seconds it resolved itself into a blackheads, it's sword casting the light. In a flash Elesa aimed her rifle and fired, killing the blackhead in a single shot. Nobody said a word; even Gigolo was silent.

Then the there was a faint hissing sound, and then running feet could be heard. A bigger white glow appeared, and suddenly a sea of blackheads was charging towards the squad.

Zero didn't need to say anything; the sight was enough to set all of the squad off. Gunfire sounded and bullets flew towards the onrushing mass, slaying black Spartans where they ran. As many as the killed, though, more replaced them. Zero's heart was beating. With his spare hand, he pulled a grenade from his pocket._ Just a few seconds..._ he pulled the pin out and slammed it into the coal vein.

Normally, coal burned slowly- far too slowly for what Zero wanted. But he'd seen a sign as they ran in. It read 'Coal Dust- danger of explosion!' And explode it did. Zero didn't know why there was so much around, or why it exploded so violently, but all of a sudden the air was in flames. The fireball killed him instantly, and the rest of his squad a split second later. The fireball continued down the tunnel, burning the blackheads as well, and setting fire to the coal veins, which added their heat to the conflagration. The fireball spewed out of the mine opening, attracting the attention of a few pelican pilots who had seen the distress signal too late to help.

Zero just hoped it was worth it.


	3. The Breakdown of Relations

**The Breakdown of Relations**

As always, it seemed as though no time had passed between the instant that Zero died in the explosion and the moment he was reconstructed from the respawner. His first feeling was one of intense relief, as he hadn't been entirely certain he would ever respawn. His second feeling was of sudden worry. It would be futile if, having escaped death at the hands of the blackheads, he was then thrown in jail for what he knew. He was therefore at once happy and worried to see Vivian standing in the foyer immediately outside the respawning rooms, a look of relief on her face.

Vivian quickly made her expression more neutral and walked slowly over to where Zero was stood.

'Pleased to see me?' Zero asked. It seemed like a reasonably neutral statement to make, and right now he didn't want to do anything suspicious.

'Aren't I always?' She asked in return, before smiling and pulling him into a hug. Zero returned the hug, careful not to crush her in his armor.

'How long was I out?' he asked, taking his arms away.

'Just a touch over 6 hours,' Vivian replied. 'The rest of the squad has already respawned.' Zero nodded. If he was the last to respawn, it would make sense for her to be worried for him. In some way, it was nice that she did worry about him; he'd had precious little to do with her over the past few days. In fact, they'd barely spoken since he'd messed up at her apartment. Zero still wasn't sure what had come over him then, but he'd felt it recently as well- a sudden feeling that nothing mattered, and that he should just go and do whatever came to mind. And then, when he returned to what he hoped was normal, he always felt like shit.

'Anyhow, things have been moving fast while you've been gone,' Vivian said, snapping Zero back into the real world.

'Good news first,' Zero said. Vivian gave him a worried smile.

'I'm afraid there isn't much news we could call good, as such,' she said. 'Half an hour or so after you died, we got a distress signal from another base. Yet another came an hour or so after that, and we've had two more since, the last one about 20 minutes ago.' Zero was taken aback. How could they move so fast? It must have shown on his face, for Vivian went on.

'We missed one thing- we don't know how fast they spawn from their cores. I mean, it must be more fast than we do- much, much faster- but we haven't got any sort of estimate, because nobody knows how many there are around. We never even made an original estimate, but current guesses range from one a minute to 1 a second.'

Zero was taken aback once again. At a large clan like Aspertias, with 5000 or so members, roughly 15 Spartans were born every year at the core. The rate of spawn at cores controlled by the blackheads must be a factor of thousands, no, tens of thousands higher. But there was something else, too.

'Do they respawn?' he asked. Vivian shrugged.

'How would we tell? They all look the same.' She sighed. 'Back on track, we couldn't spare any resources to help the clans that came under attack. All but one of them has fallen; the last should do so within an hour. Meier is understandably reluctant to commit forces to protect clans we aren't strongly allied with.' She paused for a moment.

'What about our attempts to help Cortex?' asked Zero.

'That was a success, I suppose. Almost all of the squads we sent made it back; between them they rescued 400 soldiers, most of whom have joined us. Not that they had much choice; when they core fell they lost their clan allegiance.'

'What, totally? They weren't tied to any clan?'

'Yes, which we assume means that if they died... they died permanently. What with having no core to respawn at, and all.' Zero realized that she was looking at him closely, and he twisted his face into what he hoped was a shocked expression.

'On top of that, the attempt to destroy their core failed. The squads sent to destroy the four cores already held by the blackheads were a little more successful; two of them were destroyed.'

'So now the enemy holds 6 cores, which means there will be more of them, so they'll take even more cores?'

Vivian nodded reluctantly. 'It's an exponential growth pattern- the longer we wait, the faster they expand. Sooner or later there will come a point at which we simply won't be able to defeat them. Whats worrying is, that point may have already passed.'

Zero had a sinking feeling. He had realized this already, sort of, but to have it confirmed by someone he knew was currently in the upper echelons of the military... _surely south of the channel would be safe? The blackheads can't swim, can they?_

'Finally,' Vivian continued, 'Vermillion have come under attack.' Seeing his blank face, she added 'They were one of the clans we were sharing resources with to counter this threat.'

'They're a big clan, aren't they? How are they holding up?'

'We had some ideas on making our bases more defensible, which we shared with them. Unfortunately, the defenses were only part finished when they were attacked, but they seem like they're helping. They've also been able to confirm some details about how the blackheads attack for us.' She waited for Zero to say something, but he kept quiet.

'A lot to take in, huh?' she said finally.

'Yeah,' Zero said absently. 'Say, do we still get 12 hours break after respawning?'

'Yes, Meier didn't think it worth it to remove it.' Zero, who had been watching closely, saw her flinch as she realized what she'd said. Did that count as a way he could have worked it out? Probably not; she knew him well, and he doubted he'd have picked up on it if he hadn't been watching for it. Zero decided to pretend not to notice her slip up. To her credit, Vivian didn't panic or try to come up with reasons why Meier might have thought it not worth removing respawn time other than that anyone who died would be dead permanently anyway.

Seemingly deciding that it was best to change the topic, Vivian asked something he'd hoped she wouldn't say.

'Could I have a look at the footage of your deaths, perhaps?'

Zero cringed. It was a natural thing for her to say, whatever way he looked at it- she wanted to know whether he'd been killed by a blackhead or had killed himself- if the first, then it suggested that perhaps the blackhead's deaths weren't entirely fatal, and if the latter, then it might suggest that he knew that the blackhead deaths were fatal. He couldn't refuse either without looking suspicious.

'Sure,' he said, and transmitted the footage over. She stiffened slightly while watching it, and then nodded.

'That's fine,' she said. 'Say,' she added, 'How about I see you at mine for dinner later? Or, uh, breakfast, given that it's now, like, 3 in the morning.'

'Sure,' Zero said.

After deciding on a time, he walked away, his head spinning with worries and plans. One thing popped into his head- Vivian was right, his internal clock was screwed over big time. The events of the past couple of days, plus dying, had left him out of sync. It was just a result of the life they all lived, he supposed.

Gigolo hadn't been back to his apartment since respawning. He'd gone for a stroll, telling himself it was to clear his head, and had ended up wandering aimlessly around the base, watching people walk- or, as was becoming more common, run- past. He'd be the first to admit he wasn't a poetic person, but something about the ambiance, the life of the clan, made him want to write something meaningful. It didn't help that he wanted to address it to Elesa.

_Why is this happening to me?_ He wondered, pausing for a moment as a group of Spartans wheeling weapons racks hurried past. He'd had a few flings with girls in the past, but this was the first time he'd been so hung up on one. And for it to be Elesa, of all people! There was nobody he was less likely to be able to get in the world; which was, he reflected, probably part of the reason he was so interested in her.

It couldn't have come at a worse time either, what with his scheme to remove Zero coming along and this new threat, the blackheads. Not that he thought they were much of a threat, having soundly thrashed them a few times- hell, Elesa was probably more of a threat to his health than they were.

'Love,' said a mature looking spartan walking by. He winked when Gigolo flinched, having been startled.

'Not quite,' Gigolo replied. The other spartan chuckled as he walked on. Gigolo grimaced. He'd been standing by the wall again, staring into space, and probably looking like some love struck fool. That man wasn't the first to make a comment like that, either.

It was quite clear that he had to do something. Quite apart from the fact that he couldn't keep getting distracted, especially in battle- he had his reputation as a crack infiltrator to consider, after all- he felt a yearning for Elesa, like he'd never felt before. He considered for a moment. Atlas had a girlfriend, didn't he? If nothing else, Atlas would be able to give him an idea of what not to do.

Atlas opened the door quickly when Gigolo rang, looking slightly disappointed that he wasn't seeing Midori in front of him. 'Sup?' he asked.

'I need some advice,' Gigolo said. 'It's about Elesa-'

'Could you keep it short?' Atlas broke in. 'Only, I'm meeting Midori in 5 minutes.'

Gigolo frowned. It wasn't like Atlas to put Midori before his friend. 'Well, I just can't stop thinking about her. I've got to do something. Hey, where are you going?' Atlas had disappeared back inside his apartment for a moment, reappearing with a pair of shoes.

'Just ask her out,' Atlas said, pulling his shoes on. He looked at them critically, then sighed and pulled them off. 'I think she'd like the other pair more.'

'Dude! Focus!' Gigolo shouted. 'My problem, yes?'

'Sorry man,' Atlas said, grabbing another pair of shoes and pulling them on. 'I'm in a hurry. But tell me how it goes, okay?' He stepped into the corridor, pulled his door shut and began jogging towards the elevators.

'Dude- oh, you're no help at all,' Gigolo said. 'I'll remember this next time you need a hand!' he shouted after his friend.

What advice had Atlas given him? Just go for it? That might work. 'Yeah,' Gigolo muttered, 'If I want to get it thrown in my face.' He sighed. Maybe a walk would help him clear his head. He started off again in the opposite direction to the elevator.

After some more time, Gigolo found himself wandering into the vertical park. He found a bench and sat heavily on it. A few other Spartans were walking around- most, he noticed, in pairs. Gigolo tried to think, but soon found himself growing restless. Feeling a need to keep moving he jumped up and began to walk on, only to find himself walking straight into the one person he both wanted to see and run away from.

'Excuse me,' Elesa said, glaring at him. She pushed past him. Gigolo turned, stretching an arm out to grab her.

'Wait!' Gigolo shouted.'I mean, I have something to say,' Elesa turned and stared at him. He swallowed. 'Look, I'm sorry about what happened the other day, when I tried to kiss you.'

'You mean you're sorry I didn't let you.' Elesa replied.

'No! Well, yes, but that's not what I'm saying dammit!' Gigolo said, exasperated. He rubbed his forehead. 'I'm sorry. My actions were wrong.'

'Yes, they were,' Elesa replied. 'Was that all?' Gigolo was shocked. Was that it? 'Then I'll be going.' She pulled her arm way from his and started walking again. Gigolo snapped out of his stupor and ran after her.

'At least acknowledge my apology,' Gigolo said, catching up.

'I did. You were wrong.'

'Not like that!' Gigolo cried. 'Say you forgive me, or something.'

'Will that make you stop following me?' Elesa asked. 'Then I forgive you.' She continued walking, not looking at Gigolo. 'You're still following me.'

'You're not supposed to say it because you want someone to go away!' Gigolo said angrily.

'Then what do you want me to say?'

'Just- just say it like you mean it.'

'Oh, for the love of- since when do you ever care?' Elesa stopped abruptly and turned around. 'I forgive you, Gigolo, for your wrongdoing. Happy now?'

Gigolo sighed. He supposed that was about as good as he was going to get. Elesa apparently took his momentary silence as assent, as she turned and continued walking.

'Hey! I'm not finished yet,' he cried, and once more ran after her.

'I wasn't aware I needed your permission to leave,' Elesa replied.

'I wanted to ask you something,' Gigolo said.

'I don't care.'

'Just stop and listen to me!' Gigolo shouted. A few people turned to stare at him. He glared at them.

Elesa stopped walking and stared impatiently at him.

'Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I can see that now.'

'Even a blind man sees what is in front of his nose eventually,' Elesa said.

'And I'm sorry for that,' Gigolo continued, ignoring Elesa. 'But I want another chance. With you.'

'Why me? Why pick to go after someone who hates you?'

'I don't know, dammit!' Gigolo shouted. 'I just can't stop thinking about you, and it's driving me crazy!'

Elesa looked taken aback. _Oh, I went and put my foot in it big time._ 'Shit, that wasn't what I meant to say at all-'

'Gigolo,' Elesa interrupted. 'Right now, I hate you. You are exactly the sort of person I would never willingly spend time with. But you can change.'

'Why should I change for you?' Gigolo asked, angry.

'Because you want me, but I don't want you,' Elesa said.

'What does that mean?'

'You like me as I am, or so you claim. I hate you as you are. Normal relationships need both members to like each other.'

'So you say you won't even consider me?'

'Not as you are, no,' Elesa said. 'I see no reason why I should when you refuse to change.'

Gigolo put up his hands. 'Fine. How should I change, then?'

Elesa shook her head. 'If you can't see how you should change, then you'll never be able to.' Without another word she walked away, leaving Gigolo confused and angry.

Harvey's bar had never had the stunning views or exquisite service some of the other cafe's and shops in the base had to offer, but in Midori's mind it didn't need them. It had respectful, quiet barkeepers, a clientele that kept more or less to itself, and above all else, decent alcohol.

It was over one of these drinks that Midori liked to sit and ponder about what had happened to her and what seemed likely to happen. This usually happened after the events in question; despite many resolutions to try and think before she acted Midori found herself often simply doing what seemed right at the time, and just going with what Zero, or whoever was leading them now, ordered.

On one level, Midori was quite worried about the new enemy- the blackheads, she'd heard them called- which put her apart from almost all of the rest of the clan it seemed. Gigolo and Atlas certainly showed no signs of being in any way afraid of the blackheads despite them being able to destroy entire clans. Aspertias was a big clan, certainly, and had already begun preparing defenses, but the threat was still there. It didn't help that it had been implicit, if not outright stated in the announcement that losing to the blackheads would result in permanent death.

Which was probably the reason why Midori found it so hard to take the enemy seriously. She had been brought up to believe that she would have at least 400 years of life ahead of her, and she was barely a tenth of the way through that. Midori saw it in the other Spartans; a disbelief that anything could harm them. She saw why, certainly- the very idea of having less than your allocated lifespan was unthinkable. It was something that was never questioned, never changed- it just was.

On the other hand, Zero seemed to accept it all to well. He had been acting weirdly during their mission a few hours ago. Midori was certain that he had done something that caused the explosion to kill all of them. But why? He could have simply decided that it was the easiest way of killing the enemy, but why do it so suddenly, and without giving any warning? It was as if he was hiding something.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of her boyfriend.

'Sorry I'm late,' Atlas said, pulling a bar stool over and sitting next to her. 'Gigolo grabbed me and asked me something about Elesa.'

'Oh? Has he decided to apologize at last?' Midori asked, turning to face him.

'I dunno,' Atlas replied. 'He seemed about ready to tell me his life story, so I told him to go for it and leave.'

Midori rolled her eyes. 'He'll get the wrong idea, and you know it.' Although, she thought, it wasn't too dissimilar to what she would have told Gigolo to do in his place. After slapping him a few times first.

'Eh, Elesa will sort him out. Just between you and me,' Atlas said, leaning close to Midori, 'he seems almost lovestruck. Lovestruck! Of all the people I know, Gigolo is the last person I'd think could get hung up on a girl.'

'Of all the people I know he's the last person to care enough to get hung up on a girl,' Midori said. 'But if he does anything stupid, Elesa will thump him. She told me she utterly smashed him in a training battle she played with him.'

Atlas smiled. 'Yeah, I can see her doing that.' He grabbed a straw from a dispenser and stuck it into Midori's drink.

'Hey!' Midori said indignantly. 'Get your own!' She pulled the drink away, spilling what was in the straw.

'Oh, you wasted it!' Atlas cried. 'That was good stuff!'

'Hence why I was trying to drink it!' Midori cried back. Atlas grinned at her, and then burst out laughing. 'It's not funny!' Midori said. 'Now it's got your slobber in it.'

'You never mind it when we kiss,' Atlas replied. He rolled his shoulders. 'Anyhow, I had something I wanted to talk to you about.' Midori groaned.

'Please Atlas, not now,' she said. 'I'm trying to enjoy myself.'

'You don't even know what I want to talk about yet,' Atlas said.

'Oh, trust me, I do,' Midori replied. Atlas sighed.

'It's important. You told me how we're all in this squad because we messed up, right?' Midori said nothing, focusing on her drink. 'Well it seems to me that we're set to mess up even more. With Zero at the helm, we'll just keep on failing, like we did at Torchbearers. We fail enough, and we're out.'

'That's not true,' Midori said. 'Zero's not that bad of a leader. We've not messed up that often, and when we do it's usually because Meier's deliberately trying to make Zero screw up.'

'Yet another reason why we should get rid of him,' Atlas said. Midori groaned loudly.

'If only you could hear yourself,' she said. 'You sound obsessed. Every sentence you speak is Zero this or Gigolo that. What happened to you being laid back and cool with everything?'

'I found something important to work for,' Atlas retorted. 'I see you haven't.'

Midori shook her head. 'If you're going to blabber on about this, I'm going. I've had enough of this drivel.' She stood up. Atlas grabbed her hand.

'Hey- don't go! Look, I'm sorry.' He tried to smile at her. 'I just think that it's important. You'd be the same if you found something important to work for.'

'For pity's sake Atlas!' Midori shouted. 'Even in apology you drone on with this bullshit.' She pulled Atlas's arm off hers and stepped back.

'What do you want me to say then?' Atlas said, standing up.

'Something that doesn't sound like you're preaching to me!' Midori replied. 'Say something about us for once, not about you and Gigolo! This is his work, isn't it?'

'He's not putting words in my mouth,' Atlas said.

'That's even worse!' Midori replied. 'Well forget it. This crusade is yours. I want no part of it.' She took another step back.

'Babe, please just listen,' Atlas cried. He took a step forwards, then stood back as Midori flinched.

'Don't come near me,' Midori said angrily. 'Not until you've thought about who you're dating- me, or Gigolo.' She spun and ran out of the bar. Atlas stared after her, breathing heavily, a hand outstretched.

'What... what just happened?' he whispered.

Vivian studied the bottle of wine with the eyes of someone who knew nothing of alcohol. It was a gift from Meier for her help- a rare vintage, he'd said, imported from the eastern continent, where clans supposedly had huge fields of vines, producing wine to sell and help fund their wars. Meier had specified that she should drink it in small sips, to bring out the full flavor. Maybe Zero would know what he had been talking about.

Thinking of Zero brought a pang of worry. Something was up with him. Not just his actions towards her- that had been going on for a while- but in general now. She'd seen how he hesitated to send her the recording, and when she had watched it she thought she knew why. He'd killed the whole of his squad with a well placed grenade. It had ignited the coal seams, which messed up the kill tracking, and disguised the betrayal. The rest of the squad's deaths were marked as environmental. Vivian had talked to all of them when they emerged from the respawn chambers- a nervous wreck at the time, she remembered, certain that Zero was dead- and they'd been equally surprised. Midori alone had known the cause of their deaths, having been able to recognize the explosion. Although as a supposed explosives expert, it wasn't hugely surprising.

The question was why he would have blown himself and his squad up in such a manner. The obvious and worrying solution was that he knew about the permanent death caused by being killed by a blackhead's blade, and had committed suicide to avoid this, something that had worked for Midori and Gigolo previously, even if they hadn't known it at the time. But how did he know? The ops room security was uncrackable, barring the possibility of an informant, something she didn't like to think about. Or he could have worked it out himself. Certainly it was becoming far more difficult to keep the secret hidden as more soldiers went and died to the blackheads, and Meier was going to have to reveal it soon or have it blow up in their faces. A third option was that he had got the information from his friends in the Universalist movement. Vivian hoped that this wasn't it. Zero had chosen to fight in the war 20 years ago, and she had stood by him, a move which cost her everything. Since then she had asked him many times whether he maintained his links with them and he had denied it every time. If he had lied to her all along, then she was going to have something to say about it.

Of course, it could have been an accident, or an attempt to kill as many blackheads as possible, or many other things. It _could_ have been.

Right on time, the knock on the door came. Vivian calmed herself and walked to the door, opening it with a forced smile. Zero stood awkwardly outside, holding a bunch of flowers.

'Hello,' she said, holding her forced smile.

'Hello,' he replied. After a pause he proffered her the flowers. 'I picked these for you.' Vivian took them gingerly.

'Thank you,' she said, and pushed them into a shelf. 'I'll, uh, pot them later. Why don't you come in?'

Zero stepped inside and pulled off his shoes, nudging them into a corner. Vivian reached past him to shut the door and beckoned for him to come and sit at her table.

'Meier gave me this bottle of wine,' she said, placing it on the table. 'But I'm afraid I'm not much of a wine connoisseur.'

'An eastern wine? I had one a few years ago,' Zero said, picking it up. 'But I'm afraid I couldn't taste the difference between it and the local one.'

'That makes two of us,' Vivian said, smiling. Zero smiled back, and for a moment it was as if the years had changed nothing. But of course, they had, and that only made her more determined to do what she had to do. 'Just give me a moment, I have to get something ready. Why not take a seat?'

'Good idea,' Zero replied, sitting down. Vivian walked casually to the door and locked it to her voice, and then picked up a tray of biscuits from the kitchen. She walked back to Zero and placed the tray down. He reached to pick one up.

'Why did you lie to me about your involvement with the Universalist?' She asked, her voice neutral. Zero's hand paused in mid air. After a moment he sighed.

'I've told you a dozen times, I have no involvement with them anymore. Why should I after what happened last time?' He picked the biscuit up and ate it.

'Don't lie to me, Zero.' Vivian pulled the tray away from him.

'I have not lied to you.'

'You have, and you know it. How else do you know the truth about the blackheads?' Zero froze, to Vivian's satisfaction. 'See? You do know.' Zero grimaced.

'I haven't lied to you- I have had no involvement with them.'

'Then how do you know?' Vivian asked. 'I don't suppose you just worked it out, did you?'

'I have had no involvement with them, but due to some mistake, I received a message some time ago from them, one which they didn't intend for me to see. It contained a transcript of a meeting you had with Meier and June about the blackheads.' Zero looked Vivian in the eye. 'That's how I know.'

Vivian was surprised. It seemed possible, and Zero didn't seem to be lying. But the thought that someone could have broken the ops room security was worrying.

'How did they find out?' she demanded.

'I don't know, I swear. I assume they had an insider.' Vivian nodded. It seemed to support her own suspicions.

'If you knew this, why didn't you tell us? You of all people know the damage this information could cause.'

'And what would you have done if I had told you? You'd have assumed I was still working with the Universalists. Not that it mattered,' Zero added bitterly. 'I should have known that you'd never trust me.'

Vivian was taken aback. 'Don't say that!'

'Why not? It's true, isn't it? You're in with Meier now, and I'm just an uncomfortable reminder of your old life, holding you down.'

'No! That's not true!' Vivian shouted. 'It's just... I care about you, Zero. I couldn't sit by as you got dragged back in to what ruined you 20 years ago.'

'I don't need you to baby me!' Zero shouted back. 'Why do you always assume that I'm incapable of looking after myself?'

Vivian shook her head angrily. 'You don't understand.'

'I understand fine,' Zero said. 'And I understand why you really invited me here.' With an angry shake of his head he got up and walked to the door.

'It's locked.' Vivian said.

'Unlock it. Please.'

'First,' Vivian said. 'What were you going to do with the information?'

'I owe nothing to this clan,' Zero said. 'It might survive, it might fall. But I'm not going to let myself die because the leaders can't get their act together and actually put some defenses together.'

Vivian sighed. 'You were going to run.' Zero said nothing. She wanted to shout at him. Instead she kept her voice low. 'You never used to run.'

'Look where that got me. Open the door now, please.'

Vivian unlocked the door. Zero opened it and walked away without another word. After a few moments Vivian walked over and closed it again.

'What am I to do?' she asked nobody. Nobody answered. Sighing, she walked to her phone and dialed for Meier.

'We have a problem,' She said when he picked up. 'The Universalists know.'

'I had a feeling they would,' Meier replied.

'What do we do now?'

'We'll hit the Rebels before they have a chance to get together. I'm not going to let those short sighted morons spoil everything we've worked for.' Vivian took a deep breath.

'I... have a favor to ask, then. It's about Zero.'

Atlas's apartment was small and spartan; with a bed opposite a television, an en suite toilet and a small fridge and basin. He'd never needed more; when he wasn't on a mission he was out and about or at Midori's apartment, and recently he'd only come back to sleep and watch TV whenever Midori wasn't around. Since buying it he'd not added anything and only kept the fridge stocked up with the most basic of food- why should he bother, when Midori cooked such a good lunch?

He found himself regretting not spending more time on it, though. It would certainly have made him more comfortable, and at the least he could have bought a bit more beer. He wasn't about to go and try and get some, not while there was a chance he might bump into Midori.

Thinking of Midori made his face hot. What right did she have to talk to him like that! He'd never been anything but a supportive boyfriend, always understanding when she had something that kept her away from him, and now that he had something else important to him, she suddenly resented him for it? It was blatant hypocrisy, and totally unreasonable. With that thought he lifted the can to his lips for another swig, draining the last of the beer.

He tossed the can in the corner, next to the other few cans he'd found lying about his apartment. They stood out against his clean apartment.

But why, why couldn't she see how important this was to him? Why didn't she see how important it was to them all? Since he'd been transferred to the squad, he'd seen how bad it was and how poorly they achieved, almost never being able to complete their objectives, wiping out on missions and generally being the bottom of the pile in the clan. His old squad had been skilled and professional, and they'd worked well and completed their objectives without fuss. Decarabia, Zero's squad, was nowhere near as efficient. It had to be the fault of the leader.

Speaking of which, Midori had mentioned something about Zero a while back. She'd said that he was in the squad because he'd made a cock up somewhere. Hadn't he planned to find out what that was and use it to his advantage? He reached over to the fridge and pulled his tablet out of its holder. Squinting against the screen's glare, he logged in and set up a search of the clan's archives to pull anything related to Zero for him.

A few minutes later, the tablet emitted a soft beep to announce it was done. Atlas opened the search results and began skimming through the entries. Many were battle reports; mostly classified, some dating back decades. Atlas opened a few but found nothing of interest that he could read. A little way down was a news article detailing the appointment of Zero to a tactical advisory position. Atlas opened and read it. He knew little of Zero's past, but he was surprised he'd missed this. The article was dated from nearly 35 years ago and described how Zero was one of the youngest Spartans ever to be assigned as a tactical adviser. Could this have something to do with what he was looking for?

The article gave nothing more of interest. Atlas closed it with a sigh and skimmed down the list again. The next interesting thing was another news article from 25 years ago with the headline 'Tensions rise as Universalist talks break down'. Atlas read it and found nothing relevant in it. It was odd then that the search had returned the article if it had nothing related to Zero in it. He reread it to be sure.

The article itself was interesting even if it wasn't relevant. It was talking about two factions in Aspertias. The Universalists, the article said, desired a system where the military was answerable to the civilian side of the clan, while the Militarists wanted an independent armed force. The second sounded similar to the system currently employed in Aspertias, but Atlas had never heard of the first group. It wasn't entirely surprising- he'd only transferred to the clan 15 years ago, and had been a long way up north before then- but surely a group as large as the article made the Universalists out to be should have left some kind of legacy. What could have happened?

Atlas saved the article to study later, and continued down the list. A little way further was a report on prisoners taken in a month; almost 20 years ago by the time stamp on this one. Why would this be in the list? With a feeling he knew the answer, Atlas opened the report. It listed a large number of names with descriptions of the situations they had been taken in and how long they were to be kept for. It seemed to be in alphabetical order, so Atlas scrolled to the bottom. There, second from the end, was Zero's name. Atlas leaned in closer and read the associated description.

The report detailed how Zero had been captured in battle at- at the vertical garden? Atlas did a double take. Why would Zero have been captured inside the base? The report told him that Zero had been identified as a ringleader of the rebel Universalists, and captured rather than killed for use as a bargaining tool. The report recommended 5 years minimum and demotion or expulsion when released.

Atlas began to put a picture of what must have happened. The Universalists must have started some kind of battle and been defeated; as a leader, Zero was captured and then demoted to where he was no as punishment. The Militarists had obviously won cleanly; the lack of evidence of the war and the rebels even existing was proof of that.

Atlas sat back, his mind whirling. Information like this held possibilities for him. This had to have been what Midori was referring to. If the rest of the squad didn't know.. well, Midori and Vivian probably knew, but it could sway Elesa, certainly.

His laptop emitted a quiet beep again, and Atlas glanced at it. A dialogue box had opened. A line of text lay within.

'I can help you with your problem. Yes or No?' It read. Atlas clicked the Yes button. Another box popped up.

'Transferring video file now. Send this to Meier and say you found it.' Another box appeared, indicating the file transfer in process.

When it was finished, Atlas opened the video and watched it. A smile painted his face. This would help him greatly.

In an apartment similar to Atlas's, if rather larger, Zero sat on his bed, trying to read a novel. He was finding it hard to focus on the book in front of him. His mind kept cycling through the same few thoughts- what would Vivian do- would he be able to escape in time- would the clan survive- giving him little chance to read.

Eventually Zero gave up on the book and leaned back, letting his disparate thoughts rush through his mind until he wasn't sure what he was thinking about at any one time.

It was a shock to him when his door was blasted in and 8 Spartans in full armor came charging inwards. Zero jumped up and tensed to fight; but was tackled by the lead spartan and thrown to the floor. Cuffs were placed on his arms and he was wrenched to his feet. With a metal boot in his back he was pushed forwards; a hood was placed over his head and he was dragged away.

The tactic clearly worked, for within a few moments Zero was disorientated completely. He found himself panicking and tried to calm himself but failed. He had no idea what was to become of him; his attackers had said nothing at all and he wasn't sure what he was being dragged away for.

Eventually Zero was thrown into a room. A door locked behind him, and then hands pulled him up and ripped off his hood. He was in an interrogation room, with a pair of guards standing behind him, rifles ready. Opposite him sat Meier.

'I always knew I would see you here again someday,' Meier said.

'So you fabricated a reason to make it come true?' Zero asked, trying to think clearly.

'Why would I need to? Vivian's told me all about you and your buddies in the Universalist movement. Just tell me,' Meier leaned forward, 'Why you decided to act now, of all times?'

Zero groaned. 'For the last time, I'm not with them anymore. I've had nothing to do with them!'

'Still sticking to that story? Maybe this will change your mind.' Meier turned and gestured to something Zero couldn't see, and a screen lit up. A piece of grainy footage showed him entering an apartment, and leaving a few minutes later. He recognized the area- that was Haru's apartment.

'This is the apartment of a known Universalist leader, and you are quite clearly visiting her. Getting some orders, perhaps, for your imminent attack on the clan that gives you food and shelter?'

Zero tried to rub his eyes, then realized that his hands were still behind his back.

'Yes, I met with her, but it was to tell her that I wanted no part of her schemes. I swear, I'm not working with them!'

Meier shook his head. 'See, I might have believed you, but Vivian informs me that somehow you know... our little secret. And as you probably also know, I can't let that get out.' He stood up. 'Even If you're telling the truth- which I doubt, by the way, I still can't let you go. And since you're lying, I'm going to have to lock you up.' He rubbed his hands. 'It was too much effort to get rid of you last time, but now we have a method of removing you permanently.'

Zero gasped. 'Please- I swear to anything you want, you're making a huge mistake!'

'No, I'm not.' Meier smiled. 'This is the best way it could work out. Just as soon as we've finished rounding up all the rebels, we'll chuck you all out of a pelican in blackhead territory and be done with you. And with you gone, Vivian will be able to work her best.' He nodded to the guards and walked away.

Zero tried to get up and run, but his legs had been bound at some point and he fell. The Spartans grabbed him and dragged him through the prison to the cells. He was thrown into a cell and the door slammed behind him, leaving him in near darkness.

The door to the interrogation room opened and Meier walked out, followed shortly by Zero, being dragged by a pair of guards. Vivian watched with a heavy heart as he was led away. Meier strolled over to her, looking pleased with himself.

'Why couldn't I watch?' she asked as he approached, still gazing towards the door Zero had gone through.

'It was for your own good, Vivian,' Meier said. He shook his head. 'I know you love him. I'm sorry it came to this.'

Vivian frowned. 'I still would have liked to... to see for myself if he was really guilty.'

'I think the video proves that,' Meier said.

'I wonder how Atlas got hold of it,' Vivian said. 'Seems an odd thing for him to be in possession of.'

'He said he'd been researching up on Zero. He probably found it somewhere in the archives. Besides, he despises Zero. He has reason to be looking for this stuff.'

'It's still odd,' Vivian said. She sighed. 'So, what's next?'

'Vermillion are having real troubles, but we can't spare any troops to defend them. We'll have to send some evacuation birds and try and get as many of their people out.'

'Blowing the core as well?'

'That too,' Meier said. Vivian frowned.

'When they get here... you won't be able to keep the secret from getting out. If someone uses it against you, there will be an uproar.'

'I'm aware of that,' Meier said patiently. 'That's why I've been taking measures to remove anyone who could start another civil war. As soon as we find Haru and Marco we'll have all of their leaders in our hands.'

'All of their known leaders,' Vivian reminded him.

'It won't matter, trust me.' Meier stretched slowly. 'I have a favor to ask.' Without waiting for Vivian's response, he went on. 'We're painfully short of evacuation teams, so could you take the rest of your squad and help out?'

Vivian had a feeling he would ask this. He still didn't trust her entirely, and needed a way to make her prove her loyalty. It was an odd way to go about doing it, though. She nodded. 'Sure.'

Meier put a hand on her shoulder. 'Be careful though. I don't want to lose my best tactician.' He smiled. Vivian gave a weak smile back. 'You'll leave in 15 minutes.'

Vivian said her farewells and left, walking briskly to the elevator. She messaged the squad, telling them to be ready as soon as possible. If it was a test of loyalty, she wasn't about to fail.

From Aspertias base, the squad headed southwest across the blackhead controlled regions to the Vermillion base, on the edge of the danger zone. The base was situated on an island in a vast mountain lake, and was similar to Aspertias in its construction, with many towers and castle like features. As the pelican approached, Midori found she could pick out individual features - and the sea of black Spartans swarming the lower levels of the base.

The pelican swung in close over the base towards the upper landing pad where a large number of Spartans were milling around in barely contained chaos. Gigolo took a few potshots out of the open back of the pelican; Midori was dismayed to see that almost all of them hit. Where had all of the blackheads come from?

'Elesa, Gigolo, keep people out of the pelican,' Vivian said over the radio. 'Meier wants us to make sure we pick up the important people first; then we'll see who we can fit in.' The cabin door opened and Vivian stepped out. 'Midori, come with me.' Midori nodded and fell in behind Vivian. A crowd of people began converging on the pelican as they walked away; Gigolo cocked his shotgun and they dispersed a little.

Vivian pulled over a passing Spartan. 'We need to find Tomalon.' The Spartan shook his head.

'He's helping out down below, with the defenses.' Vivian thanked him and continued; Midori followed. 'But be careful! It's hell down there!' The Spartan cried after them.

Vivian broke into a jog when they reached the edge of the landing pad. She pushed open a door and hurried down a flight of steps. The sounds of battle became evident- gunfire and curses, and the swish sound of energy swords. Midori followed her past a few lines of defenses, hastily constructed, and then out into a courtyard where the fight was.

'Holy shit,' Vivian said. Midori felt the same. A few groups of Spartans were standing on vantage points, spraying bullets at any blackhead who came close, but beyond the seemingly arbitrary line where they stopped shooting was a huge mass of pitch black bodies. The blackheads were being funneled through several entrances, which allowed the defenders to keep the advance in check. But the sheer number of enemies made any hope of victory seem remote.

'Vivian!' someone shouted. Midori followed the voice and saw a man running towards them. He drew up in front of the pair, panting slightly. 'What are you doing here?'

'I'm here to get you out, Tomalon,' Vivian said. 'We need you alive.'

'I can't just up and leave!' Tomalon said. 'I'm their leader. They need me here.' He turned to survey the defenses. 'Besides, we have them held back for now. I'll stay until all the civilians have been evacuated.'

'No, you don't,' Midori said, dread in her voice. She pointed at the barricades. A few blackheads were jumping over the funneling walls. As Tomalon turned, that trickle became a flood.

'Shit! Fall back! Fall back to the next line!' Tomalon shouted. The defenders scattered. A few unlucky ones were caught by blackheads and impaled on energy swords. The rest of them began falling back towards where Vivian and Midori stood, desperately trying to keep the surge in check.

Vivian grabbed Tomalon. 'We need to leave, now!'

'I can't abandon them,' Tomalon replied in an anguished tone.

'This isn't the time for foolish honor!' Vivian shouted. 'Your life is at stake!' She began pulling Tomalon backwards up the stairs. Midori followed, firing into the crowd. She felt some satisfaction to see a few blackheads fall to her bullets. Tomalon resisted, and Vivian slapped him. 'Damn it, Tomalon, you're important!'

Tomalon stopped struggling. 'To who?' he asked.

'To everyone,' Vivian replied. Tomalon sighed.

'I guess that's good enough.' He began to jog up to the landing pad. Feeling as though she had just missed something important, Midori followed.

The trio were jogging past the last barricades when Gigolo suddenly spoke on the open frequencies.

'You said what?' he shouted. There was a moment of silence.

'Gigolo, get off the radio!' Vivian shouted urgently.

'No, wait, this is important. This guy says that being killed by a blackhead is permanent.' There was a pause. 'That's bullshit, right?'

'Yes! Honestly, I don't know why you would believe such a thing.'

Tomalon grabbed Vivian's arm. 'You didn't tell them?' He asked, shocked.

'It's for their own good!' Vivian cried. 'Meier was going to make the announcement soon. He's probably already done it.'

'Vivian,' Midori said slowly.

'Yes?' Vivian replied impatiently.

'You left your radio on.'

Vivian stopped dead. 'Oh. Damn.' There was a moment of calm, and then the radio exploded.

'Are you serious?' That was Gigolo. 'Atlas! Get the pelican ready, now!'

Tomalon jerked into action. 'Run, Vivian! They'll leave without us!' Vivian made a small gesture.

'I locked the engines. They can't leave without us.' Vivian still ran after him, though. Midori followed, checking behind them. The revelation was unsettling, to say the least. Although more worrying was that they had been lied to. What else had the military been hiding 'for their own good'? The radio was buzzing with Spartans shouting, demanding answers, a few crying.

The trio sprinted up the stairs and onto the landing pad. At the far end lay the squad's pelican. Midori saw Elesa standing by it. She began to wave, but paused for a second before quickly drawing her rifle and firing past Vivian. Vivian jumped, shocked, and turned to see what Elesa had been firing at. A blackhead had made it up the stairs and had been about to throw itself at Vivian. The sound of running feet could be heard- and a mass of blackheads charged up the stairs.

Time slowed for Vivian. She drew her assault rifle and began firing blindly into the horde, jogging backwards. Tomalon pushed Vivian towards the pelican and drew his rifle as well. The crowd on the landing pad became aware of the danger and started to scream; guns fired, not all at the blackheads.

'Midori!' Elesa shouted over the radio. Midori turned and ran, pulling Tomalon and Vivian with her. They barged through the crowd. Indignant curses turned to screams as the horde fell upon the Spartans at the edge.

Midori reached the pelican and jumped in the back. Vivian and Tomalon followed moments later.

'Go!' Vivian yelled. The pelican started to lift off, giving Midori a good view of the landing pad.

In the close, cramped space the blackheads had a huge advantage. Here and there groups had managed to defend themselves but elsewhere the black Spartans ran free, killing multiple Spartans with each swipe of their swords. The horde cut their way through the crowd and reached the pelicans, charging inside, swords flashing.

The pelican lifted off from the pad and began to fly away. A few blackheads jumped after it, missing by meters and falling to their deaths. The rest of the horde continued the slaughter.

'That could not have gone worse if we tried,' Tomalon said, pulling himself into a seat. Vivian nodded wearily. She gestured to Elesa, who pulled the door release. The back of the pelican slid up, cutting off the view of the carnage.

'You,' Gigolo said angrily, bursting out of the cockpit, 'have some explaining to do.' He pointed at Vivian, who stared back.

'He's right,' Midori said. 'Why did you hide this from us?'

Vivian sighed. 'Isn't it obvious? You saw the reaction it caused.'

'Telling it earlier would have minimized that,' Tomalon said. Vivian glared at him, and he flinched.

'He's right,' Midori said. 'Besides, how long did you think you could hold something like that a secret? What happened to the people who died on missions?'

'This wasn't my choice!' Vivian cried. She shook her head. 'I was for telling everybody, but Meier said no, and Meier's word is law.'

'That's no excuse!' Gigolo shouted. 'This is information which could save lives, and you just sat by and let him send us to our deaths!'

'We've faced blackheads before,' Atlas interjected over the radio. 'How did we survive then?'

'You were lucky,' Vivian replied.

'We weren't actually killed by the blackheads either time, were we?' Midori asked. Vivian nodded. 'The first time, my rocket killed both me and Gigolo. The second time, Zero blew us up.' Midori paused. 'Did he know?' Vivian nodded again. 'How?'

'He's in league with the rebels, idiot,' Atlas said. Midori clenched her fists and glared at the cabin door.

'Wait- really?' Gigolo asked, surprised. 'Are you sure?'

'Have a look when we get back. He's in prison right now.'

'That's enough!' Vivian shouted. 'Atlas, shut up and fly. Gigolo, just shut up.' She leaned back in her seat, and then jumped. Moments later, a message arrived in Midori's inbox.

She opened the application up, and was surprised to see it was from Meier himself. It was a text only message, and read;

'All units, return to base immediately. Ignore any further communications.'

'Well, that's odd,' Midori said. Vivian stared hard at her, and Midori decided she'd best assume then order to shut up also applied to her.

'What did it say?' Tomalon asked.

'It's a general order to return to base,' Vivian said. 'Nothing to worry about.'

At that moment, a second message arrived in Midori's inbox. With a feeling of slight suspicion, Midori opened it.

'People of Aspertias, now is the time to rise up! The government has lied to you, mislead you over the threat we face. Meier has told you that the blackheads are nothing to fear, but we, the Universalists, now know the truth!'

'Nobody read that message!' Vivian shouted.

'Fuck that!' Gigolo replied. 'You're not going to be able to censor this.'

Midori continued to read the message.

'The blackheads are the greatest threat the world has ever faced. Not only are they capable of eradicating whole clans, but they are also capable of permanently killing Spartans with a single slice of their swords. For anyone who knows people who have died in battle against these monsters, I am truly sorry. They are not coming back. But we can make sure that this doesn't happen again! We must overthrow the corrupt militarist government and install a new order, one which serves the people, not the army. Take up arms and fight for your freedom!'

It ended there. Midori looked up to see Vivian staring at her, a worried look on her face.

'I know what the message says,' Vivian began. 'And I know it doesn't look good.'

'Too right it doesn't,' Gigolo said.

'Shut up,' Midori said. 'I want to hear what Vivian has to say.'

Vivian nodded her thanks at Midori, and continued. 'Think before you act, though. You may not like the decisions Meier's government has taken- I don't. But they offer one important thing- stability. With a threat like the blackheads looming over us, we can't afford another civil war. We'll be destroyed.' Vivian sighed. 'Atlas, fly us back home.' She looked around the gathered Spartans. 'You have until we get back to decide who you will support.'

This wasn't the first time Zero had been in jail, so he was reasonably sure he knew how to survive it. But after the initial shock had worn off, the feelings he remembered from his last stay crept back- anger, resentment- and fear. How long did he have? He hoped Meier wasn't going to carry through with his threat. After all, not even Meier would presume to be able to control when someone died. Except, he remembered, he already had, by not telling anyone about the permanent death the blackheads were able to cause.

Zero lay in the near darkness for a few hours before unexpected sounds woke him from his thoughts. In the distance he could hear what sounded like gunfire, and shouting. He pulled himself off the cold floor and walked over to the small barred window of his cell. The corridor outside looked the same as always, but the sounds were getting louder.

Zero's suspicions were confirmed when the gunfire grew to a peak, and the door to the prison was blown off its hinges. A group of Spartans ran in, quickly covering the corridor. Once certain there were no enemies, the leader pulled out some keys and began walking round the cells.

'All of you have been imprisoned here,' he began. 'Some rightfully, some wrongly. But a new age is dawning, and we, the Universalists, offer an amnesty from past crimes to any who choose to fight for us. What do you say?'

There was a clamoring from the cells on the hall. Zero added his voice to the shouts; he could always run off later. With a smile, the leader walked around unlocking the cells, exchanging a few words with each inmate. When he got to Zero's cell he peered in through the bars curiously.

'You don't look like you've been here long,' he said.

'No,' Zero replied. 'I was thrown in earlier today.'

'Looks like it's your lucky day then,' the Spartan said. 'What for?' He pushed the key into the lock.

'Haven't a clue,' Zero replied. 'Meier just didn't like me.' The spartan laughed.

'Sounds like him,' he said. The door opened. 'Suit up and grab a weapon. We're going to take the base from those tyrants.' Zero nodded and stepped out of the cell. The Spartans were leading inmates out of the prison and into the guard barracks, which was situated above it. Zero hurried in and found a suit of armor roughly his size, although without the modifications he'd made to his suit- with a pang of regret he realized he probably wouldn't be able to get it back- and grabbed a DMR and a pistol, slotting them both on his back.

'Good, you're all ready,' the leader said, walking into the room where the inmates had all changed. 'Our orders are to move to the center and take the elevator shafts. Let's move!' The inmates all shouted with enthusiasm and ran after him; Zero followed suit a moment later.

As soon as they left the prison complex the sound of battle hit Zero. Gunfire could be heard almost everywhere; their group passed a couple of fights, helping out where they could. From what Zero could see, the two sides were fairly evenly matched. He mentioned this to one of the Spartans.

'Yes, but with the element of surprise, we managed to take the core. Now we control the respawners, so it's only a matter of time before we win.' Zero nodded; that made sense. Of course they would go for the respawners first. The same thing had happened 20 years ago, only the rebels had lacked the power to keep their advantage. This time it looked like it might be different.

Presently the group arrived at the level's park, which surrounded the elevator shafts. A fierce battle appeared to be taking place between the rebels and the Militarists, who held the shafts and were deeply entrenched. The leader of the group called them to a halt just outside the fire zone.

'We're going to split into two groups,' he said. 'You, you and you-' he pointed to Zero- 'split off and see if you can see a way to get past their fortifications. The rest of you, follow me. We'll keep them pinned down. They can't last long.'

Zero found the two people he was supposed to be with and ran off in the direction indicated.

_Now would be a good time,_ he realized. All he had to do was get away from these two guys and sneak to the landing pad and he would be free. He needed a plan. Looking around, a sign triggered a memory from some time ago.

'I'll have a look up here,' he shouted. The other Spartans nodded and carried on. Zero ran to a flight of stairs leading up to an apartment complex. The ceiling here was hollow, and had several water tanks- he knew this from some maintenance work he'd done as punishment years back. As long as it hadn't been changed, he should be able to climb through into the next level, where the landing pad was.

Zero glanced around quickly, and then took aim and fired into the ceiling. He heard a small boom, and then a waterfall came from the ceiling. Zero smashed his fist into one of the walls and took hold against the current.

'Hey! What the hell are you doing!'

The cry came from behind him. As the onrush subsided, Zero turned to see one of the Spartans trying to stand up under the cascade of water. Making a split second decision, Zero turned back and jumped, grabbing onto the hole in the ceiling. He pulled himself up into the cavity as the other spartan stood up.

'Traitor!' he cried, and opened fire. Zero threw himself to the floor as bullets flew past; he heard another booming sound followed by another rush of water and curses from the spartan.

_Well, that problem took care of itself._

Working quickly, Zero shot a few more holes in the ceiling, stepping to the side as a chunk came crashing down. He again pulled himself into the hole he had created, emerging in somebodies bathroom. Zero opened the door and peeked into the living room, but no-one was home.

Praising his luck, Zero ran out of the apartment and into the hallway. After taking a moment to catch his bearings, he continued down the hallway and out into the landing pad complex.

Wreckage of aircraft and vehicles was scattered everywhere, but the area seemed to be in control of the rebels for the moment. Zero took a moment to compose himself, and then walked confidently out onto the pad. He ignored everyone else and made straight for the miraculously untouched sparrowhawk sat on the edge of the pad. His plan worked; most people ignored him in return. He snapped at the one soldier who tried to question him, and was not bothered again.

He was fairly surprised to see the sparrowhawk sitting there, untouched. He'd made arrangements for it to be prepared around this time but had expected the war to disrupt that, or at the very least it to be nicked by someone. Having it still there was most helpful for him.

Within a minute he was in the air and flying south, straight for Nasces. In the confusion, nobody noticed his disappearance until much later.

The squad's pelican decelerated and held position a mile out from Aspertias, out of range of any anti air weaponry.

'Keep it steady here,' Vivian said. She got to her feet and looked around the pelican's troop bay. 'Come back here Atlas,' she said. 'I want you to have some input in this.' The door to the cabin opened, and Elesa saw Atlas walk out slowly, looking everywhere except at Midori.

'We have a choice to make,' Vivian continued. 'We must decide what we are to do here. We can take a side, or we can stay out of the battle. Whatever we choose, I want it to be unanimous.'

'I don't like what Meier did,' Gigolo said, standing up. 'But he's one of the few people actually capable of running this clan. Plus,' he added, 'he's the one most likely to win.'

Vivian nodded, and turned to Midori. She shrugged. 'A civil war helps nobody. Meier has shown he can protect the clan before.'

'Atlas?' Vivian asked.

'What Gigolo said,' Atlas replied. He seemed about to say something more, but eventually kept silent. Vivian turned to Elesa.

Elesa had thought long and hard about what she would say here. She believed that ultimately Aspertias needed Meier- it needed an independent military to be able to survive. The rebels might have good intentions, but placing restrictions on the military would cripple the clan in the long run. She had seen it happen with Vermillion- they'd fallen, not a huge amount, but a certainly noticeable distance, since they changed their government system. Not that anyone else needed to know all of that.

'I'll support Meier,' she said.

Vivian nodded, looking relieved. 'I'm glad you all chose that way.' She turned to Atlas. 'Fly us in. We'll help Meier's forces take back the landing pad.'

Elesa hoped they had picked the right side. She also hoped that it wasn't too late to fix the damage that had been done to the clan. If Vermillion couldn't defend itself united, then what hope did they have in pieces?

The pelican started moving forwards again.

'The defenses seem to be mostly under Meier's control now,' Vivian said. 'So we shouldn't have any trouble approaching. The landing pad is controlled by the rebels, however.'

'How do you plan on landing, then?' Midori asked.

'We won't. Meier has a force ready to take back the pad, but they want the air support we can provide. Atlas, I want you using the nose cannon to provide support. Elesa, see if you can do some sniping from the rear.'

Elesa nodded and pulled the hatch release down. The door opened, showing the base; Atlas was approaching side on. She sighted up; through the scope she could see innumerable small fights happening through the windows and in courtyards. She zoomed in one one, but found herself unable to tell who was on which side. It seemed as though everyone was shooting everyone else.

Atlas shouted something, and the pelican shook as he opened up with the nose cannon, spraying the landing pad. Return fire chattered against the hull, but did nothing. Elesa jammed her foot into a crevice to hold herself steady, and then sighted up again. She kept her focus steady as Atlas swung the pelican around for another run, and brought her cross-hairs over one of the Spartans firing at the bird. For a moment she wondered what was wrong, and then realized that no red reticule had appeared. She was, for all intents and purposes, team killing.

_Why am I doing this? _She asked herself. _Because it is what is best for everyone, _she replied. Resolve reinforced, she aimed and fired. The shot took the spartan straight in the head, throwing him back. Nearby Spartans gestured in alarm and fled for cover. Elesa emptied the rest of her clip, killing another two enemies- and they were enemies- and then Atlas brought the pelican around for another run. When she could see the landing pad again, what was left of the defenders had scattered, and were being killed by forces attacking from inside the base. Slightly relieved- she didn't like the idea of killing her own side- she stowed her rifle and prepared for landing

'Good work,' shouted one of the Spartans, a tall lady who seemed to be in charge of Meier's forces here.

'We couldn't have taken the pad without your help. I'm Faris, by the way.'

'Thank you,' Vivian said, stepping off the back of the Pelican, which was now sat on the edge of the area. 'What's the situation?' Behind her, Tomalon stepped out onto the landing pad. He appeared to see someone he knew, and hurried off. Elesa supposed he didn't particularly want anything to do with a civil war in another clan.

'We hold most of the exterior, and the higher levels. Unfortunately, we lost the core and the respawners when the rebels first attacked, so we're on something of a time limit.'

'As long as we can take it back before the first of the dead start respawning, they have no advantage,' Vivian said. 'How well are they entrenched?'

'Very well, unfortunately,' Faris replied. 'But that's where you come in, right?' she seemed to be sizing Vivian up. 'Meier said you would be able to solve the problem.'

Vivian thought for a moment. 'Who holds the elevators?' she asked.

'Nobody. We destroyed the shafts to stop the rebels from attacking the control room.'

Vivian nodded. 'That's a pain.' She walked over to the edge of the landing pad and leaned over, scanning the outside of the base below. 'Do you have any rope?'

'Yes,' Faris said. 'Why? Are you planning abseiling down?'

'Not quite,' Vivian said. 'Where's that rope?'

Under Vivian's direction, the squad and a larger group of Spartans tied themselves to the edge of the pad, measuring out about 20 meters. They lined up on the edge of the pad.

'Ready?' Vivian asked. 'Let's go.'

As one, the group jumped off the edge of the pad. The ropes quickly tautened, and they swung back in towards the base. Curled up, Elesa couldn't see ahead as they swung into the window of the floor a few levels down.

The glass shattered and the group flew into the room beyond the window, a meeting room. Thankfully the room was empty, giving the group time to untie themselves and get their weapons out.

'Hey, where's Atlas?' Gigolo asked suddenly. Elesa looked around- he was right, Atlas was missing. There was also a rope hanging by the window, one end looking very frayed. Gigolo spotted the rope and ran to the window, looking down. Midori followed him.

'His rope must have been cut by the glass,' Gigolo said. He shook his head and walked away from the window. Midori stayed there, staring down. Elesa walked over to her.

'You okay?' she asked. Midori pointed downwards. Elesa looked over and saw Atlas' body, spread on a courtyard hundreds of meters below. 'Nothing you can do now,' she said, and gently pulled Midori after her.

They had made quite a noise when smashing the window. Elesa could hear shouts from outside. She quickly took cover behind a desk as Gigolo and some over Spartans positioned themselves right by the double doors into the room.

The doors burst open and half a dozen Spartans ran in. They shouted in alarm when they saw the size of Vivian's group, and opened fire, but were quickly dispatched by the Spartans on the doors. When they were dead, Vivian waved her arm and the team hurried out of the doors.

'The core is a level down,' Vivian shouted as they ran into a hallway. 'We've to get through an office area and then down some stairs to reach it.' As she was giving orders, gunfire sounded around them. Elesa threw herself behind a wall as bullets ripped through the area she had been standing. The rest of the group took cover as well; Elesa saw one spartan get shot through the chest, too slow to reach a safe area.

'We're too exposed from those guys on the gantry!' Vivian shouted. Elesa looked around; they were in an open plan office area, with relatively high ceilings. A pair of Spartans were crouched on a walkway that ran above where the group were taking cover, firing down. Behind her, Midori took aim and fired. The explosion killed one of the enemy and threw the walkway to one side. Quickly Elesa took aim and fired, killing the remaining spartan as he clung to the rails.

She had to duck back though, as a group of enemies approached from in front, using the desks as cover. Vivian's group fired at them to little effect; the returning fire did very little as well.

'We're pinned!' Vivian shouted. 'Move to the sides!'

Elesa started crawling to her left, around the area where the enemy Spartans were entrenched.

'I have a shot!' Midori shouted. She stood up and fired. Immediately she was targeted by a group of enemies and cut down. Elesa stared at her body for a moment, then moved on. If they lost, then she would start worrying.

'It's no use!' A spartan shouted. 'They've picked too good a spot!'

'We'll have to-'

Elesa never heard what Vivian planned to do, because at that moment the ceiling buckled and collapsed, falling inwards directly onto their enemies. Behind it came a platoon of Spartans, dropping down on ropes. Leading them was Faris. They dropped to the floor and picked off the rest of the enemies.

'Floor secured!' Faris shouted. She ran over to Vivian.

'Thank you,' Vivian said. 'You saved us.'

'Just repaying a favor,' Faris said. 'Besides, I got the idea from you.' Vivian nodded.

'We need to get to the core,' she said. 'It's this way.'

With the extra manpower from Faris' group, they were able to fight their way through the stairwells and into the core area.

The core itself was situated inside a huge cylindrical container, covered in wires and piping, which was itself situated in a vast chamber. Around the edges of the chambers were the respawning machines, and between there and the entrance to the core was an open killing field, the last line of defense should an enemy get this far. It would be a nightmare even getting that far.

Vivian's group quickly moved to the cover provided by the closest respawner, dispatching the enemies gathered around it. Elesa stuck close to Vivian, and overheard when Faris approached her.

'It won't be easy taking that,' she said.

'A straight assault would be suicide, yes,' Vivian replied. Faris glanced at her, a hint of a smile on her face.

'Do you have a better plan?' she asked.

'The defenses were made with the very reasonable assumption that the enemy wouldn't know the inner workings of the base,' Vivian said. 'We need to use that.' She looked around the chamber. 'Those pipes,' she said, pointing, 'what do they carry?'

Faris repeated the question to one of her soldiers. 'Coolant,' he answered. 'It's needed to stop the core overheating.'

'I'm sure one pipe wouldn't make a difference,' Vivian said. 'Can you shut it off?' The soldier nodded reluctantly and ran off to make the adjustments.

Elesa saw Faris was getting a little restless. She looked as though she was dying to ask what Vivian was planning, but didn't want to appear rude. Finally she gave in.

'What is it you're going to do?'

'Those pipes are hollow,' Vivian said with a smile -and Elesa realized that she had also been waiting for Faris to ask the question- 'and look large enough to crawl in. They lead into the core area, as well. A team could go in, capture the area and defend it while our outside team pushes them towards it.'

'Trap them between two forces, you mean?' Faris asked. Vivian nodded. At that moment the soldier returned, telling them it was finished.

'All right,' Vivian began. 'Gigolo, Elesa, you go with the team Faris is putting together and infiltrate through the pipe. The rest of you, come with me and take their attention.'

Elesa found Faris and got directions to the opened pipe. She was at the back of the line, behind Gigolo. One by one they climbed into the large coolant pipe.

'It's about 200 meters to our exit point,' Faris said, at the front. 'Keep moving and alert me immediately if you get stuck.'

Nobody did get stuck, fortunately, and in about 5 minutes the team was at their exit point. The lead spartan pulled out a saw and cut through the top of the pipe, cutting down the line so that multiple Spartans could exit at once. When it was done, they pushed up, lifting the top off the pipe, and slid it backwards quietly. Elesa put her head up when it had passed over her to see that they were at the very top of the core chamber. 15 meters or more below them stood a small platoon of guards, who were mainly setting up defenses.

'On my mark, we move,' Faris said. 'Back half, move back and down that support strut. Don't fire until I say so. Front half, follow me.' Elesa found herself at the front of the back half of the team. She clambered out of the pipe and crawled carefully along it until she reached the strut, and then moved down the metal pillar until Faris called for them to stop.

'Snipers, pick targets,' Faris ordered. 'On my mark- fire!'

Elesa took aim and fired, picking off one of the Spartans below. The survivors turned, shocked, to see the team above them. Elesa fired again, killing another enemy, before they started firing back.

'Get down there! Seal the exits!' Faris shouted urgently. Elesa ran down the strut and onto the floor. Gigolo sprinted past her, killing a shocked enemy spartan with his shotgun. Elesa swept her sight around the room, but saw that there were no enemies left. The team quickly sealed the exits, to confused shouts from outside.

'That's our bit done,' Faris said. 'Now we just have to wait for Vivian to kill the rest of those assholes.'

Suddenly tired, Elesa walked over to a wall and slumped against it. It felt like it had been a long day.

**Note: If you have any strong feelings either way for this story, please take some time to write a review for it. Any reasonable feedback is welcome, especially negative feedback. Hit me!**


	4. Great South Road

**Great South Road**

Only a few minutes had passed since Meier had triumphantly announced that his forces had retaken the core from the rebels, but already the mood in the people Tomalon passed had improved. Most were slapping each other on the back, joking and laughing about the short lived rebellion, while others seemed to be getting to work trying to repair the damage, which was extensive. Large sections of the base were in ruins, and the main elevator shafts had all been destroyed, which was why Tomalon was having to walk the long way from the middle levels to the ops room. He'd had to ask directions multiple times, as nothing seemed to be signposted, and a few people had tried to stop him when seeing his armor, which now showed a blank space where the clan decal would normally be. Thinking of that reminded him of how his clan no longer existed, which led onto the big question troubling him.

_What happens if I die?_

Of course, Spartans died permanently, eventually, but only after a good 400 years of life. Tomalon had 150 years left to live- he wasn't ready to die, not yet. It was as though a safety net he'd never realized existed had been removed from beneath him, and now he was teetering precariously on the wire. He'd never had to worry about dying before- if there was something which would kill you then you avoided it, but if necessary any Spartan would sacrifice themselves. Why wouldn't you? You knew you were just going to wake up 6 hours later, good as new.

Such weighty thoughts followed Tomalon up the innumerable flights of stairs until he reached the ops room, which seemed to have escaped any of the fighting. The usual faces were manning desks and workstations, although the usual babble of voices seemed subdued for some reason.

'Can I help you?' The receptionist asked, looking pointedly at the lack of a clan emblem on Tomalon's armor.

'Yes, actually,' Tomalon said, walking over. 'I need to see Meier.'

'He's busy. Said nobody was to disturb him.'

'Just tell him it's Tomalon, from Vermillion,' Tomalon said. The receptionist shrugged and spoke quickly into an intercom. Her eyebrows raised.

'Seems like you know the magic words,' she said. 'He'll see you now. 4th on the left.' Tomalon thanked her and hurried in the direction indicated.

'So you made it,' Meier said, glancing up from a map of the northern continent to see Tomalon. 'We lost contact with everything in Vermillion. Sorry.'

'I already knew,' Tomalon said. He pointed to his bare armor. Meier peered at it.

'As we thought. You have no clan tie.' Meier frowned. 'Do you feel any different?'

'Not physically. It's just a shock realizing that- that if I die now, I don't come back.'

'That isn't surprising. The psychologists told me that there would be mental issues associated with this- humans aren't meant to be in a situation where they can die permanently.' Meier sighed. 'Anyway, there is a solution. We should be able to induct you into Aspertias.'

'Does that work?'

'It has up until now. We've been getting a stream of refugees from the clans that have fallen, and we've managed to add all of them to our ranks.'

Tomalon smiled. 'That's a huge relief.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Meier said, nodding. 'Get yourself down to the core and we'll get you set up'

'I'll do just that,' Tomalon said, leaving. 'Oh, and if you see Vivian, tell her I said thanks.'

'Stick around a minute and you can tell her yourself,' Meier said. 'And I think you'll be just one of many wanting to congratulate her.'

2

The entrance to the ops room seemed almost like a home to Vivian; so frequently had she been in and out the past few days. She nodded to the familiar faces on the desks, and was surprised to see them stand up and start walking towards her, smiles on their faces.

'Here's the woman of the hour!' A captain said.

'Word is, you're the only reason we beat those assholes,' another said.

'How do you do it?'

'You must give me some tips sometime, you really must.'

'If only all our squad leaders were as good as you!'

The sea of smiling faces crowded around Vivian until she began to feel slightly claustrophobic.

'Please,' she said, 'It's not that big of a deal...'

'Nonsense!'

'The best are always so modest, aren't they?'

The crowd seemed to have no intention of letting her go. Vivian glanced around, and saw two more familiar faces.

'Give the lady some space!' Meier yelled, Tomalon at his side. 'Go, get out of here!' The crowd dispersed, still crying encouragement to their hero.

'You really are something,' Tomalon said, smiling warmly at Vivian. 'I had no idea.'

'She's good at doing her job,' Meier said. 'That's all.'

Vivian nodded. 'And you wanted to see me as soon as possible, sir?'

'Yes. Follow me. There have been some disturbing developments.' Meier smiled wryly. 'Not that there has been any other kind since this whole affair started.' He began walking briskly towards the tactical room. Vivian followed, and Tomalon fell into step beside her.

'I wanted to thank you,' he said. 'You're the reason I'm alive now.'

'Don't be so melodramatic,' Vivian said. 'There were plenty of other dropships at Vermillion.'

'And I wouldn't have taken any of them,' Tomalon replied. 'I was ready to die for my clan, for real. But now I realize... I like life better.' He blushed. 'Sorry. I must sound so silly to you.'

'Not so much. There are many things worth dying for. There are even some worth dying permanently for. Your clan is one of them.'

Tomalon nodded. 'I wonder how many feel the same way.'

'Hurry up!' Meier shouted. Vivian quickened her pace, leaving Tomalon behind. He was a clan leader, like Meier, but the polar opposite. He cared about his people far more than Meier. On the other hand, Meier was the one who still had a clan at all.

Vivian entered the room and took her position by the map table. Tomalon tried to follow, but was stopped by Meier.

'You need to get down to the core and be registered,' Meier said. 'You can come back when that's done.' Tomalon stopped in his tracks.

'I'd rather not miss anything. I'll go later,' he said.

'You'll go now,' Meier replied firmly. 'If you keep putting it off what happens when you die and you still haven't been registered?'

'What, that I'll die inside the base? I'll take my chances, thanks.' He tried to push into the room, but Meier planted himself in Tomalon's way.

'That was an order. We're not equals anymore, Tomalon. You do what I say or I throw you out.'

Tomalon stared at him, shocked. He glanced to Vivian, who turned away. Eventually he conceded.

'Fine.' Without another word he turned and strode away. With a tut Meier shut the door and walked to the table.

'No comment?' He asked.

'It had nothing to do with me,' Vivian replied. _Still, it was a bit harsh. Meier didn't need to show his authority quite that strongly._

'He likes you, you know.' Vivian turned sharply to Meier.

'What?'

'He liked the look of you when he saw you at that meeting the other day, or so he told me afterward. I think you saving his life turned that to love.'

'And I think your better at warfare than romance,' Vivian replied. 'Where do we begin?'

Meier shuffled some papers. 'First, I want to get something out of the way. You're bound to find out sooner or later anyway, so I'll just tell you. We lost Zero.'

'Lost him?' Vivian asked, surprised. 'How? Where?'

'The rebels hit the prison during the war. Zero was released and it looks like he joined them, but he's not among the ones we killed. So either he's still here, hiding, or he fled.'

'He fled, I'm sure of it,' Vivian said. 'He was going to run anyway, I think.'

'Well, a number of the other ringleaders are also missing, so chances are they're together.' Meier said. 'You wouldn't have any idea where he might have gone, would you?'

'Nasces. He'll be looking for a way off the continent, to get as far away as possible.' Vivian stood up.

Meier sighed. 'Vivian, I forbid you to go after him.'

'Sir, please let me go. I need to hear his explanation for this.'

'No, and that's final. We can't spare you, Vivian. I should never have let you leave to go to Vermillion- look what happened when you were gone!'

'You know me being here wouldn't have prevented the rebellion.'

'No,' Meier replied, 'but it might well have made it less of a disaster.' He shook his head. 'Well, nothing we can do about that now. And speaking of disasters,'- he turned to the table- 'lets see if we can prevent the next one.'

Vivian walked to the other side of the table. Meier fiddled with some controls and the image zoomed to a display of the base and the area around it.

'What's our situation at the moment?' Vivian asked.

'Bad. We've been steadily losing people to the blackheads anyway, and the rebellion has left us severely undermanned. We're down two, maybe three thousand Spartans.'

Vivian gasped. 'That many dead already?'

'They're not all dead. I included the fuckers who rebelled against us. When they respawn, if they haven't already, they're going. There's no way I'm chancing them rebelling again.'

'Are you sure that's wise? Why not just make an example of the ringleaders?'

'Two reasons. Firstly, the leaders escaped. Marco and Haru were seen fleeing south when the battle started to go our way.'

'And the second?' Vivian prompted.

'Vermillion was a disaster, yes. But not all of the evacuations went so badly. We've picked up nearly two thousand troops from other clans. We won't need the rebels now that we have them- and they're mostly grateful to us for saving them, so I doubt they'll be rebelling anytime soon.'

'So we're not that badly undermanned after all,' Vivian said. 'So what's the big deal?'

'It's easier to show you,' Meier said. He zoomed in on the base of the Aspertias tower, at the valley floor. 'This is where the blackheads are probably going to attack. We rarely use it or the other lower levels, but there are large elevators and ramps for getting vehicles into the base from the valley.'

'So we put defenses there?'

'We had already put some in there, but some idiot decided to stand and fight there. They're in ruins now. I've started to organize some repair teams but it's going slowly.'

'How long until the blackheads arrive?' Vivian asked, suspecting that she wouldn't like the answer. Meier fiddled with the controls some more and another map appeared of the area around the base. The red circle indicating the expansion of the OCP was touching Aspertias base.

'They should be here now,' Meier said.

'Then we need to get a move on,' Vivian said. 'Anyone who isn't doing something vitally important- get them down to the bottom of the base and installing defenses, or repairing the vital parts of the base, like the elevator. Those rebels you spoke about earlier- find the ones who don't really believe and tell them that if they work on the defenses you'll let them back into the clan.'

Meier nodded. 'Good ideas. They'll leave us without any offensive capability though, if all our soldiers are building defenses.'

'So? Name me a clan which is in a position to attack us right now. And besides, they'll still be Spartans. If someone does attack then we'll be able to defend against it just fine. Better, since we'll have all of our troops home.'

'Alright. I'll start implementing these. Anything else you might be able to suggest?'

Vivian scanned the image of the base. 'These defenses are good, but you're missing something. We need an escape plan, should the worst happen and we lose. Something that ensures a good number of our people escape, and the clan lives on regardless.'

Meier shook his head, smiling slightly. 'No. We won't run. We either win or we all die permanently- there will be no middle ground.'

Vivian glanced at Meier in shock. 'Why on earth would we do that? We gain nothing by fighting to the end, besides an early grave.'

'I said no, Vivian.'

'But you can't just say no! You'll be sending people- living, intelligent Spartans- to their deaths for nothing! What good will that do?'

'Quiet!' Meier shouted suddenly. He turned away from her, clenching his fists. 'I will not be remembered as the leader who ran. If we flee it will be as a shadow of our former selves- I won't let that happen. Death is better than that.'

'Not everyone will agree with you,' Vivian said quietly.

'Do you?' Meier asked. Vivian didn't reply. He sighed. 'Go. You've helped enough.'

Vivian left, saying nothing until she was in the elevator. Then she let her breath out.

'I can't let him do this,' she said aloud. 'But how will I stop him?'

3

'This is such bullshit,' the spartan in red moaned. 'Why do we have to clear this stuff up? We have an engineers department, for pities sake.'

'I hear you man,' the spartan wearing blue replied. 'We're soldiers, not slaves. Why doesn't Meier just force those assholes who rebelled to do the work for us?' He turned to Gigolo. 'You agree with me?'

Gigolo shrugged. 'Would you trust one of them with one of these?' he asked, waving his hand saw.

'The man has a point,' the red spartan said. 'Still, I can't say I wouldn't rather be sleeping right now.'

'I bet that's what that lardy-ass Meier's doing,' blue said. 'You wouldn't catch him helping out with menial work.'

Gigolo tuned out of the other spartans' conversation, focusing on what he was doing with the saw. He was cutting away damaged pieces of support and dropping them onto a trolley to be melted down while the others replaced the beams and girders. It was hard work, but at least it kept him from thinking too hard.

He nearly cut his arm off when the spartan in red nudged him in the ribs.

'Do you think she's hot?' he asked. 'I think she's hot.'

'Man, there is no way she would be hot to anyone but you,' blue said. Gigolo looked up from his work and followed red's outstretched arm, which was pointing at another spartan working on the other side of the foyer. The spartan turned slightly, and Gigolo got a good look at her face. It was Elesa.

'Hey? Dude?' red asked. 'What do you think?'

'I think,' Gigolo said slowly, 'that they need me more. Be right back.' He picked up his saw and jogged over to Elesa.

Elesa either didn't notice him or ignored him as he approached. Gigolo stood awkwardly for a moment, then coughed slightly. Elesa gave a start and then turned to face him, a neutral expression on her face, which soured slightly when she saw him.

'Hey, I saw you working so I thought I'd come... say... hi,' Gigolo trailed off under Elesa's stare.

'That's nice,' Elesa said. 'Don't you have work to be doing?'

'I thought I could come and help out your team.'

'Oh, really?' Elesa gestured to her left. 'Get to work then.'

Gigolo walked to where she had gestured and started working again. After a few moments he looked at her.

'You were pretty good in the fighting,' Gigolo said. 'Put us all to shame.'

'Don't be so surprised,' Elesa replied, not taking her eyes off what she was doing. 'Vivian and I are the only ones who do any regular training.'

'Hey! I do training,' Gigolo said indignantly. 'We trained together the other day, remember?'

Vivian gave him a flat look. 'Yes, sadly.'

'Why sadly- oh.' Gigolo suddenly remembered how that session had ended. He cast around for another topic of conversation. 'How is Midori these days? You're still close with her, right?'

'She's still upset by Atlas being a jerk. Something that she, and I, blame you for entirely.'

'How is that my fault at all? It's not like I made him say what he did!'

'He picks up what you do,' Elesa said. 'You're a role model to him.'

'Really?' Gigolo smiled at the thought. 'I hadn't realized he thought of me so highly.'

'It's not a good thing, moron,' Elesa replied hotly. 'He caught your obsession with Zero.'

'Zero's gone,' Gigolo said. 'He's dead or he's fled. Either way, we're probably not going to see him ever again, so it's not a problem.'

'That's not the issue- oh hell, you won't understand.' Elesa looked away. 'Why are you even here?'

Gigolo frowned. 'As in, with you, here?' Elesa nodded. 'I guess I just enjoy spending time with you.' He paused. 'Do you like spending time with me?'

Elesa froze. 'I...'

A voice interrupted her. 'Gigolo!' Atlas shouted. 'I've been looking all over for you.' Gigolo turned to see Atlas walking up to him, a frown on his face. 'I need to speak with you.'

'Can it wait?' Gigolo asked. He glanced at Elesa, but she had gone back to working, intently ignoring Atlas.

'Why would it need to?' Atlas replied, either not seeing or ignoring Elesa. Without further comment he took Gigolo's arm in his hand and pulled him up and away, down the hallway to a secluded area.

'You do know Zero was arrested, right?' he said when they were out of everyone's earshot.

'Yes,' Gigolo replied. 'Something to do with rebel affiliations?'

'That was thanks to me,' Atlas said. Pride shone in his eyes. 'I found some old news articles, dating from 20 years back. Some of them referred to a civil war that took place around that time.'

'There was a civil war?' Gigolo asked, surprised. 'How come I've never heard of it?'

'Aren't you going to congratulate me?' Atlas asked. 'I mean, I did just get Zero locked up and out of our hair.'

'Uh. Yeah. Well done, bro.'

Atlas frowned at him. 'What's wrong? Is it Elesa?'

'Uh, not really,' Gigolo replied. 'It's nothing.'

'Just ignore her, man. If she's bothering you then I'll talk to her for you.'

'No!' Gigolo said quickly. 'I mean, I'd better handle it. Not that there is anything. Well, I'd best get back to work.'

Atlas nodded, the frown back on his face. 'Be careful dude.' He walked off again.

Gigolo stood for a moment, watching his friend leave. _Why do I feel bad all of a sudden? _Not sure what he felt anymore, he turned and returned to his work.

4

Midori had never been to Vivian's apartment before, but she knew roughly where it was. After stopping a few passers by to ask directions she eventually found the door. She knocked in her quick, distinctive, style and after a moment the door opened, revealing a tired looking Vivian.

'Good morning Midori,' Vivian said with a pause to yawn. 'What brings you here?'

'I wanted to talk about stuff,' Midori replied. 'And it's past noon.'

Vivian blinked. 'Really? I was working longer than I thought, then. Come on in.' She walked over to her kitchen and put a kettle to boil. Midori followed her and sat on the sofa. Vivian took the armchair adjacent to it.

'What's this stuff then? Vivian asked.

'It's Atlas, mainly. And everything else.'

'Everything?'

'Yeah.' Midori looked around uncomfortably. 'You've probably caught on that Atlas and me had a go at each other. I ended up telling him not to see me again until he had sorted his life out.' She sighed, and Vivian reached out to hold her hand.

'You don't have to tell me if it's hard for you,' she said.

'Thanks, but I'm alright. Atlas has been acting strangely for the past couple of days. I think he caught whatever it was that was possessing Gigolo, because he's barely talked about anything else but Zero since.'

Vivian nodded. 'I can understand how you feel. Zero hasn't been acting normal since... well, for several years now.' She gave a pained laugh. 'I suppose that's his normal now.'

'How do you mean?' Midori asked. She knew little about Zero and Vivian's history together.

'He used to be... so much more. He was a natural leader- charismatic, strong, liked by almost everyone. I thought I was so lucky to have him. After the civil war 20 years ago, he changed. I don't know why. I probably never will.' Vivian shook her head. 'But you didn't come here to listen to me talk about Zero.'

'I don't mind,' Midori replied, although she knew better than to press Vivian for any more information. It would be rude, and disrespectful to Vivian. 'Atlas is obsessed by Zero now. It's like there isn't room in his head for anything else- not even me.'

'He blames Zero for everything, I think.'

Midori nodded. 'Even the things that Zero had nothing to do with.' She looked Vivian in the eye. 'Make no mistake, I think Zero can be found at the root of a lot of problems. Atlas has never been like this before. It's Zero's influence, his and Gigolo's.'

'Do you blame Zero for Atlas's problem?' Vivian asked, looking surprised. 'That's like blaming the murder victim because the murderer wouldn't have murdered if the victim hadn't been there.'

Midori shook her head. 'No, it's not. You know Atlas. When has he ever done something like this? Although,' She continued, 'It's probably better not to talk to you about Zero.'

'Hey, that's unfair,' Vivian replied hotly. 'Zero's not my idol. He's done enough shit to me in the past.'

She sighed. 'But you're right, at least in some respects. You know Zero got arrested, right?'

'Yeah. Nobody told us why, though.'

'He was working with the rebels,' Vivian said. 'I ratted him out to Meier.'

There was a pause. After a moment, Midori spoke. 'You did the right thing.'

'Did I?' Vivian asked. 'He escaped in the confusion, and now I'll probably never see him again.'

'Do you... do you still love him?'

'No.' Vivian said firmly. 'I realized it after I heard he'd gone. I don't love him anymore, and I don't know if I ever can again. But I still need closure. I need to hear his side of the story, at least.' She took a deep breath. 'Midori.'

'Yes?'

'Promise me you'll talk to Atlas again. Hear his side of the story. Whatever you decide in the end, you'll be glad you did. There is no regret deeper in life than losing someone without finishing what you started.'

Midori nodded. 'I will. Thank you, Vivian.' She stood. 'I'll leave you to your sleep.' Midori let herself out quietly.

5

Nasces sprawled ahead of Zero, a gleaming silver jewel against the turquoise of the northern channel sea. He vaguely remembered the layout from the handful of times he had been there. Hopefully it hadn't changed much in 25 years.

Zero was searching for some old contacts he had in the city. Now that he was on the run, he needed somewhere to stay until he could work out what to do next. He didn't plan on staying there long- if the northern clans couldn't hold back the blackheads, Nasces wouldn't stand a chance. He needed to move quickly.

He flew the sparrowhawk up and over the edge of the city, out of range of any excitable clans who might choose to take a shot at an unknown aircraft. The city was a boiling mess of different clans, many at constant war, and the borders of their territories changed continuously. It made tracking down any particular person or clan difficult, to say the least.

Zero didn't particularly want to attract attention, so he set the Sparrowhawk's net link to open receive and started flying in a grid pattern over the city. As he passed clan bases the computer would detect their network and inform him, which he would then check against his small list of clans he trusted to help him.

After an hour of searching he began to get frustrated. Some of his contacts were nearly 50 years old, yes, but he couldn't believe that all of them would have vanished in that time. As he began to think about giving up and trying a different method, a name came up on his computer which he recognized instantly; the Black Runners, a clan he had worked with some time ago. The signal was coming from the upper floors of a skyscraper at the southern edge of the city, by the port districts. He angled the sparrowhawk towards the origin and started hailing the building.

'State your business,' a male spartan replied.

'Samael? Sam, is that really you?' Zero asked, amazed that he still remembered the voice.

'Yes, how did you- Zero? Wow, long time since I saw you down here.' Samael sounded exited. 'How can I help you?'

'It's a bit of an ask, but I need to stay with you for a while.'

'Oh, that's no problem at all,' Sam replied. 'You're in a sparrowhawk? I'll get you landing permission.' Green arrows appeared in the Sparrowhawk's HUD, directing Zero in towards the landing pad extending from the building. Zero landed the bird and jumped out, meeting Samael on the landing pad.

'It's good to see you,' he said. 'I was surprised to see the black runners still maintained an outpost here.'

'The north is full of opportunities for those with the skill to take them,' Sam replied. 'Or so the boss says. Most of the time we just sit on our arses and hope the locals don't try to attack us. Getting back here from the main base is a pain if you get killed.' He grimaced. 'Still, it doesn't look like we'll be maintaining a base here much longer. I assume that's connected to why you're here?'

'You've heard?' Zero asked.

'Everyone has, and some people even took it seriously. But everyone seems to assume that you northerners will handle the blackheads. Nobody has been making any preparations.'

'I'd thought as much,' Zero replied. 'As for why I'm here, well, I had a bit of a falling out with the clan leader. He wants me dead. Could you take me in?'

Sam looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled. 'So Meier finally snapped and tried to kill you? Shame, my wager was on it not happening for another year.'

'Funny,' Zero said. 'So what about you taking me in?'

'Ah. That's a bit of an issue,' Sam replied. 'See, we can't do that without a core, and the Black Runner core is still down just south of Solidade.'

Zero sighed. 'I should have known. Sorry for bothering you.'

'Hey, don't go,' Samael said. 'We can still work together. As it stands, Nasces is going to fall hard when the blackheads get here. I for one would rather that doesn't happen; Solidade is only a little ways south of here, across the straights.'

'My heart is warmed by your altruism,' Zero said. 'What do you want me for?'

'You have contacts,' Samael replied. 'Talk to them, get them to see the full scale of this problem. We'll need allies to defend the city. Meanwhile, I will set about drawing up plans.' He gestured to his skyscraper. 'You can have any of our equipment you desire.'

'That's generous of you,' Zero said. 'Thank you.' He turned to his Sparrowhawk.

'You don't need to go immediately,' Sam said. 'Stay a while. You can tell us all about these blackheads and how to counter them.'

6

Elesa was training in the gym when Vivian found her. Vivian waited patiently while she finished her weight lifting, and then went to talk to her.

'Can we go somewhere more private?' She said. Elesa nodded.

'The toilets should do.'

'Won't people think it's strange to see both of us in there?' Vivian asked, uncertainly.

'What do you mean?'

Vivian sighed and followed her into the toilets. Elesa led her to a cubicle and leaned against a wall, waiting for Vivian to speak.

'I want to ask a favor of you,' Vivian began. 'It's quite a big favor, but I couldn't ask Midori and there isn't anyone else I really trust to do this with me.'

'You're going after Zero, aren't you?' Elesa asked. Vivian blinked.

'You know?' she asked, surprised.

'Midori told me about the advice you gave her. I guessed you might be taking it yourself.'

Vivian nodded. 'I thought about it, and I realized I have to see Zero once more. I have to see his side before I do anything.' She smiled. 'You're more perceptive than people think.'

Elesa nodded, seemingly oblivious to the compliment. 'So when do we leave?'

'As soon as possible,' Vivian replied, glad she had agreed to come. 'I had enough saved to buy a Sparrowhawk; it'll be cramped but it's the fastest aircraft we have. It will be finished in half an hour.'

'I'll put some things together then,' Elesa said. She moved to leave, then paused. 'Vivian.'

'Yes?' Vivian asked.

'You have considered what Meier will do, haven't you?'

'I'll deal with that when I come to it,' Vivian replied, her voice a lot more steady than she really felt. Elesa nodded. 'What about you?'.

'If this goes wrong,' she said, 'I'll make sure the blame doesn't lie with me.' She walked away.

_I suppose that's all I can ask for when I'm putting her out so much,_ Vivian thought.

After she left, Vivian sat for a few minutes before also leaving. She went back to her apartment and packed the few items she felt she couldn't do without, changed into her armor and locked up. Outside, she took a deep breath. She planned on returning once she was finished in Nasces, but some instinct made her feel as if she'd never see her apartment again. It wasn't a happy thought; whatever the situation, she'd lived there for a long time and had developed quite a fondness for the room, and the clan around it. Quashing her doubts, Vivian set off for the hangar.

Elesa was stood waiting at the entrance in her armor with a small pack on her shoulder. Passing Spartans were giving her funny looks. Vivian just hoped none of them thought to report what they saw.

'Midori was out, so I left a message for her,' Elesa said. 'I just said I would be gone for a while.'

'That's good,' Vivian said. 'Is that all of your stuff?' Elesa nodded.

The sparrowhawk was sat on the external landing pads. Vivian walked to it, trying to look calm and as if she had all the authority in the world behind her. She climbed into the cockpit while Elesa squeezed into the back. Vivian had put a few modifications in the rear area, ones that allowed Elesa to control the turrets so that Vivian could focus on flying. The front mounted laser was still under her control, though. She performed a few quick checks and then lifted off, and set a course for the south.

After a few minutes of flying Elesa broke the silence.

'We're going to Nasces, right?' she asked.

'Yes,'Vivian replied. 'That's where Zero said he'd go.'

'It's funny,' Elesa said. 'Last time we went to Nasces we ended up facing the blackheads for the first time. I wonder if anything big will happen this time.'

'Maybe,' Vivian said. 'Of course, we didn't know what they were back then.'

There was a moment of silence.

'Vivian,' Elesa said hesitantly.

'Yeah?'

'When I was preparing to leave, I got this weird feeling. As if this was the last time I'd see my apartment.'

'Really? I did as well. Isn't that strange.'

'You don't think there's anything to it?' Elesa asked, concern in her voice.

'Of course not,' Vivian replied. 'It's just a feeling.' In truth, she was getting pretty concerned about it herself.

'If you say so,' Elesa said doubtfully.

They flew on.

Vivian chose to break the silence again. 'So apparently you've been spending time with Gigolo lately.'

'He's been spending time with me.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah.' Elesa hesitated. 'I think he likes me.' Vivian tried to think of something suitable to say about Gigolo. 'I don't know if I like him.'

'Give it some time,' Vivian replied. 'It always becomes clear sooner or later.'

Elesa was silent.

They flew on.

The sparrowhawk was passing a dip in the ground when Elesa broke the silence, worry in her voice.

'Vivian, I think we passed something back there. It looked like a pelican, sitting on the ground.'

'Did you get a look at the markings?' Vivian asked

'They were scorpions,' Elesa replied. 'The pelican has taken off and is following us.'

'Damn,' Vivian said. She switched one of the cockpit screens to proximity view and saw that there was a signal following about 100 meters behind her bird. 'There's no IFF tag on here. Are you sure they were scorpions?'

'I'm sure.'

The screen started to buzz; they were being hailed. Vivian accepted the transmission.

'Aspertian,' came the voice, 'This is Commander Hodge of the scorpions. Disable your weapons and land your aircraft.'

'We have no quarrel with you Commander,' Vivian replied. 'But I have to refuse your request.'

'So be it,' the scorpion replied. 'Lucas, give them a warning shot.'

The radar started to flash red, detecting a dozen missiles shooting towards the sparrowhawk from the pelican's launch tubes.

'Hold on!' Vivian shouted, and turned the sparrowhawk into a steep dive, releasing chaff. 8 of the missiles exploded behind. She pulled up again and the bird leveled out only meters from the forest below, and began to rise. Behind them 2 more of the missiles crashed into the trees. The last 2 followed them upwards, gaining quickly.

'I've got it,' Elesa said calmly. She fired twice from her rifle, destroying both missiles.

The pelican had held its altitude and was now almost directly above them. 'We need to get higher,' Vivian shouted. 'As soon as you can, fire everything at them.' She pulled the bird up. The engine whined under the pressure.

'They're firing cannons,' Elesa informed her quietly. Vivian looked out of the glass cockpit and saw small projectiles whizzing past. A thud behind her announced that they had been hit. They were totally vulnerable where they were; pulling up prevented any of their weapons from being able to hit the scorpion pelican. The situation was hopeless. Suddenly, Elesa cried out.

'They've stopped firing!' she shouted. Vivian looked at the radar and saw to her surprise that the scorpion bird was losing altitude.

'Shoot it!' she shouted back. There was a roar as the auto cannons opened fire, followed by a muffled boom. The radar showed the pelican falling freely, and then crashing into the ground.

Vivian leveled off the climb and swung the sparrowhawk around to give herself a better view of the crash.

'That was lucky,' she said. 'What happened to them?'

'I'm not sure,' Elesa replied. 'But when I shot it, the markings had vanished.'

'What? But for that to happen, then the scorpions must be...' Vivian tailed off. Could they really have been destroyed? And at that very moment? It seemed implausible, but then so did so many other things.

'We'll take a look at the wreckage,' She said. 'We can confirm what you saw there.'

She took the sparrowhawk down and landed by the crashed pelican. Several broken bodies were lying in the immediate area.

'They're dead for good, aren't they?' Elesa asked quietly, when they had exited the sparrowhawk.

'I... yes. I suppose they probably are,' Vivian replied.

'I just killed somebody permanently.'

'Hey, hey,' Vivian said. She walked to Elesa and took her hand. 'There was no way anybody could have predicted this. It's not your fault- just a horrible coincidence.' Elesa nodded. 'Will you be okay?'

'Yes,' Elesa said, taking her hand back. 'I'll be fine.'

Vivian walked around the pelican, looking at the spots where its markings would normally be. They were all blank, confirming what Elesa had seen. The corpses were all unmarked as well. As a last check she walked inside the pelican- the back was open and pointing slightly upwards- and into the cockpit. There was a spartan slumped in the pilots seat- and still alive.

'Elesa! This one's still breathing!' she shouted.

'What are we going to do with him?' Elesa asked once she was inside.

'If we leave him he'll die,' Vivian said. 'He's unconscious- we could lock him in one of the turret seats and bring him with us.'

'He's a scorpion,' Elesa said.

'Not any more,' Vivian replied, gesturing at his shoulders, now bare of clan markings. Elesa shrugged.

'If you say so. Make sure the lock is a good one, though.'

'Trust me, it'll be the best one I can find.'

Together they manhandled the unconscious spartan out of the wreckage and into their sparrowhawk. Once that job was done they took off again, flying southwards for Nasces.

7

Tomalon watched Meier pace up and down the small room, growing angrier with every turn. His eyes flicked every few seconds towards the doors, which remained shut as if in defiance.

'Maybe she just turned her communications off,' he suggested, in an attempt to break the stifling silence.

'All communication systems in this clan are programmed to allow my messages through at all times,' Meier replied, not stopping his pacing.

'Then perhaps she's away from any of those systems? In the shower, for example?'

Meier shook his head. 'Her room hasn't been entered in a few hours, the lights are all off and there is no power being directed to any of the appliances.'

Tomalon was surprised. 'You spy on your clan?' he asked.

'Not in the way you're thinking; we don't have cameras or microphones in any rooms. All of that I could tell from civil monitoring systems put in place years ago which anybody can access. Not,' he added, 'that anyone but me ever does.'

Tomalon sighed. 'I think you're taking this a bit too seriously-' he began.

'No, I'm not,' Meier said firmly, cutting him off. 'I gave specific instructions to Vivian that she was never to be without a communication device.'

'So she forgot this once, big deal. Everyone makes mistakes.'

'It's still an issue, and one I intend to bring up with her when she finally responds.' Meier kept on pacing. 'The way I see it, there are three options. One, she made a mistake, as you say. Two, for whatever reason she has been rendered unable to answer my summons. Three, she is deliberately not answering them for some reason.'

'Again, you're quite badly over thinking this.'

'There is no such thing as over thinking, only good preparation,' Meier replied gravely. 'The first option is possible, though I thought her above such mistakes; the second is also possible but I have not heard any of the racket such an event would inevitably cause; and the third doesn't bear thinking about.'

'Has it ever occurred to you that by stating that those are the only options you blind yourself to other possibilities?'

'No. What other possibilities can you think of?'

Tomalon, who had never been one for such thinking, floundered . 'You can't expect me to think of one off the top of my head,' he replied. 'You know I don't look at things like you do.'

'I believe that your refusal to do so was one of the reasons your clan fell,' Meier said.

'Meier!' Tomalon snapped. 'How could you- you don't know what it's like to lose your clan.'

'And I have no intention of finding out, hence my irritation that Vivian is not here,' Meier replied. 'Still, I am sorry. I know it is a sore area for you.'

Tomalon nodded his acceptance of the apology. 'Is she really that important to you?'

'I find I think clearer when she is around, and plans I draw up are better.' Meier sighed. 'I do not know how she affects me so, but it would be silly to not use it when the stakes are so high.'

Tomalon nodded. 'Yes, she is special, isn't she.' He spotted Meier smiling knowingly at him and reddened. 'Be quiet, you.'

Meier smiled. 'I said nothing.' He remarked.

'You thought it, I'm sure,' Tomalon replied. There was a lull for a moment, and then Tomalon continued. 'Have you done a ping to see if her communicator is still connected?'

'Yes. It isn't, which means it is either off, out of range or broken.'

'Again, not good options,' Tomalon said. 'How about asking around? See who saw her last.'

Meier nodded. 'Maybe her squad would know something,' he said. He brought up a list of the members of the squad on the table. 'I think... Midori would be best.'

After a few moments Midori answered the call. 'Good day sir,' she said, her voice clearly drowsy. 'How can I help you?'

'I need you to tell me any reason you can think of why Vivian might not be answering her messages right now,' Meier said.

'Huh? Is this some weird test?' Midori asked, surprised. 'She's out on some mission; Elesa left me a message about it.'

Tomalon caught Meier's eye; he made a shushing motion with his hand.

'Well done. What were the specifics of this mission?' he asked.

'Why are you asking me? Uh, I think they were going on a flight somewhere. Elesa wasn't very specific.'

Tomalon immediately brought up a list of departures from the airport in the past day; near the top was a sparrowhawk registered to Vivian.

'That's good enough, thanks,' Meier said. 'Get some rest.' He hung up. 'Damn.'

'Why would she have left?' Tomalon asked.

'She's going after Zero, something I specifically forbade her from doing.' Meier's face was like stone, his voice like thunder.

'That ass- what does she want with him?'

'Heaven knows. The man's a traitor, a scumbag and a wretch. I only hope he doesn't say-' Meier caught himself. Tomalon noted it, but said nothing of it. He knew better than to press Meier when he wasn't prepared to say something.

8

Once in Nasces, Vivian made a beeline for the clan she knew Zero would have gone straight for. After getting landing permission, she was met on the pad by Samael, an old friend of hers.

'Vivian! Zero didn't say you would be paying us a visit,' he said as he embraced her, leaving the unspoken question hanging. 'I don't believe I've met your friend?'

'This is Elesa,' Vivian said. Elesa held out a hand, which Samael took regretfully.

'Pleasure to meet you,' he said. 'What brings you here?'

'I'm trying to catch Zero,' Vivian said. 'I take it he stopped here?'

Samael looked at her suspiciously. 'Yes, he did. Why do you need to find him?'

Vivian thought for a moment. Samael, while a friend of hers, had always been closer to Zero than to her, and would probably refuse her request if he realized what she wanted. On the other hand, he would probably be able to tell if she lied to him.

'He left without giving me a chance to speak to him,' Vivian said. 'I need to ask him certain... private things.'

'Things to do with being his run out of Aspertias?' Samael asked. 'He did tell me,' he added, seeing the surprise on her face. 'He was looking for sanctuary here.'

'Where is he now?' Vivian asked.

'I'm not sure,' Samael said. 'I could give you his Sparrowhawk's ID, which would let you track him,' he tailed off.

'Will you?' Vivian asked.

'So pushy,' Samael replied. 'I will, for a price.'

'What?' Vivian asked through gritted teeth.

'Hey, enough of that,' Samael replied, upset. 'I was just going to ask you to come and talk with me a while. We get little news from the north, even here.'

'Quite,' another voice said. Vivian looked around and saw that another spartan, in markings she couldn't place, had joined them. 'It's something of a worry for some of us.'

Samael turned and smiled when he saw who the newcomer was. 'You decided to leave your books and talk to some real people then?' he joked. 'Vivian, Elesa, this is Alcor. He's from the Builders.'

Suddenly Vivian remembered where she had seen the markings before. The hammer and anvil belonged to an ancient clan called the Builders. The Builders had quite a presence on the central continent, but it had supposedly been hundreds, if not thousands of years since they'd had any foothold on the Northern continent.

'A pleasure,' she said, shaking his hand. 'It's unusual to see a Builder so far from Cressat.'

'The same,' Alcor replied. 'And that's what I'm ostensibly here to rectify.' He smiled at the two Aspertians. 'I shan't interrupt your conversation further... Vivian, but if you don't mind, I would like to speak to... Elesa, was it?' Elesa nodded slowly.

'Yes, why not?' Samael said enthusiastically. Elesa glanced at Vivian.

'It's up to you,' Vivian said. Elesa shrugged, and let herself be led off by Alcor.

'A strange spartan, that one,' Samael said. 'He says he's here to make contacts, but he rarely leaves his apartment, and never this base.' He shrugged. 'I suppose Builders have to act oddly, or else people would stop believing all the rumors about them.'

'What did he want with Elesa?' Vivian asked.

'Who knows?' Samael replied. 'Sometimes he sees somebody he's just interested in and he talks with them a little. It's always harmless. Besides, did you see him? I couldn't imagine him hurting a fly.'

Vivian nodded. With his white hair and innocent face, it was hard to picture Alcor fighting. 'I wasn't worried about that, just curious.' She focused on Samael again. 'So what do you want to know?'

'Not just yet,' Samael replied. 'Come on inside,' -he started to pull Vivian along with him- 'and let us talk over a hot drink. I suppose you're tired after flying so far. I'll have the crews fix up your bird, too, it looks a little beat up-'

'There's somebody in one of the turret compartments,' Vivian said. 'Lock him up somewhere until he wakes up.'

'A friend of yours?' Samael asked.

'Scorpion.'

'Ah. Well, we'll get all that done for you. As I was saying, we'll get you a nice drink and you'll feel refreshed in no time. I can't remember the last time we had some many visitors here. First Zero, now you, and there was that weird lady about an hour ago- same as you, asking after Zero with some Aspertias markings on her armor- what was her name again?'

9

Elesa followed quietly behind Alcor as he wandered into the tower, humming to himself. He led her off into a side corridor and a little way down before stopping in front of a door marked 'Guest Room'. He unlocked it and went in, beckoning for Elesa to follow him.

'We can have some privacy here,' he said. 'Can I get you a drink?'

'No. Thank you,' Elesa said. She stood awkwardly until he took her arm and sat her down on the sofa. He took a chair opposite, a glass of wine in his hand.

'I'm sorry I dragged you off like this,' he said. 'You don't mind, do you?'

Elesa shook her head. She felt more confused than anything.

'That's good,' Alcor said. 'I've had little opportunity to talk to people from the north, and I hardly count Nasces natives as northerners- they're quite different to the clans up in the mountains. I take it that's where you come from?'

'Uh, yeah,' Elesa said. 'Aspertias is a few hours flight from here.'

'What's it like?' Alcor asked. 'The clan, I mean.'

'Well... it's nice.'

Alcor sighed, but Elesa could see a smile on his face. 'I suppose you probably have little to compare it to. Were you born in Aspertias?'

'No, I wasn't. I moved away from my home clan when I was in my teens.'

'Really? Down south it's unusual for anyone to move before they're at least half a century old- but we do things differently there.' Alcor paused. 'So what does the Aspertias base look like?'

'It's very grand,' Elesa said cautiously. 'It's made of massive towers, coming out of the side of a mountain.'

'So it's like a castle, then?' Alcor prompted.

'A castle...?' Elesa asked, confused. Alcor sighed.

'Never mind,' he said. There was a silence.

'So... what is your base like?' Elesa asked.

'My base?' Alcor said, surprised. 'Well, I don't spend much time there anymore, but it's quite impressive. The builders of old definitely earned their name.' He chuckled. 'It's a giant fortress- supposedly unassailable- that was built thousands of years ago. Over time a city grew up around it, which we now call Cressat. The clans of Cressat are all allied to the Builders, so there's little fighting. It's nothing at all like Nasces.'

'There's no fighting?' Elesa asked, surprised.

'Very little,' Alcor conceded. 'But Cressat, as wonderful as it is, is nowhere near the most impressive places I've seen in my travels. I've been all across the known world, up to the gates that seal off the very north from here, and across to the edge of the eastern lands.'

'Tell me about the gates,' Elesa said. Alcor smiled, and Elesa realized that the spartan really enjoyed telling his stories.

'I'd have thought a northerner like you would have gone to see them for yourself, but very well. The gates are giant constructions of some unknown material that is nearly indestructible. They mark the end of the northern continent, and to this day nobody knows what they were supposed to seal off. Aircraft have been constructed that can fly over them, or the impassable peaks that run from either side to the ocean, but beyond lies nothing but more ocean. I have heard theories from those who would know of such things that they were created as doors to a colossal city which sank beneath the waves eons ago, but there has never been anything found which can prove its existence.'

'Perhaps they were art,' Elesa said, to which Alcor laughed.

'That is as good a theory as any other I've heard,' he replied.

'So who comes up with these theories?' Elesa asked. 'Don't they have more important things to do?'

'The way of life we have in the south is very different to how you live in the north,' Alcor said. 'I have heard, and seen, that people here live simpler lives- you wage constant war, and you survive, and indeed you are happy with this. People in the south consider themselves more cultured- a load of bollocks in my opinion, you simply have a different sort of culture to them- and as such there is less of a focus on fighting, something which is seen in Cressat. People there seek other ways to live. Some write, some paint, others put on shows or make music, and there are those who seek to understand the world around them. Such people make it their business to explain things which we cannot yet explain.'

'Isn't that a bit pointless?'

'Not at all. There was a man who spent his life investigating the properties of chemical explosives, and his work on that allowed us to put ships into orbit, and optimize the aircraft that you take for granted. Another developed the theory behind Blinking, something which many clans use for fast transport. All knowledge has use.'

'Are you one of them?'

'No, no. I simply travel and observe. When word of important events reaches the council of the builders they will often send me to watch for them, though never to intervene. We have others to do that for us.' Alcor stood up. 'Tell me,' he said, 'how old do you think I am?'

Elesa looked him over, and found that she couldn't tell.

'I am 320,' Alcor said. 'I have seen some of the most important events in the history of the world, and now I have come to witness the events unfolding in the north, events which you are tied to.'

'You mean the blackheads,' Elesa said.

'Right on,' Alcor replied. 'There are people in the south who are very interested in what happens from now on.'

'Why? I mean, I can understand them wanting us to win, but why not just send their own forces to help?'

'I cannot say. Sadly I am not privy to such knowledge, but there are rumors. The builders are an old clan- as old as the world, some say. Their original purpose was to preserve knowledge through the ages, though what knowledge and what it was for has been lost, ironically.'

Elesa laughed. 'Seems a bit useless, then.'

'Well, not entirely. Ideas are hard to kill, and myths have sprung up over the centuries. The most common ones say that there will come a point where the world will be placed in peril, and the clans will have to work together for survival. The information that the Builders were to preserve is supposedly advice on how to survive this ordeal.' Alcor shrugged. 'This is just hearsay. But whatever the truth, for as long as anyone can remember the Builders have been very interested in anything relating to disasters or the end of the world. Naturally, they are keeping a close eye on these blackheads.'

'So, why don't they do something?' Elesa asked angrily. 'If the blackheads are going to destroy the world, why do the Builders sit and wait? They must know that the earlier they act the better.'

'As I said, nobody but they know,' Alcor replied. 'But this is too much weighty discussion in such a short time. Are you sure you wouldn't like a drink?'

Elesa nodded this time and Alcor got up. She was still angry inside, and getting angrier. If they knew, why didn't these powerful clans act? It was as it had always been- you could never count on anyone but yourself. Aspertias would defeat the blackheads, by themselves if necessary. That would show the southern clans.

10

The repairs on the base continued throughout the day. A general schedule was established, giving everyone two hours work followed by an hours break. Nobody liked it, but for the most part everyone agreed it was necessary. Still, there were some problems.

It had been agreed that the place the blackheads would attack from was the very bottom of the base, where it touched the valley floor. The blackheads had been spreading along the valleys, and projections put them entering Aspertias's one imminently. As a result, defenses had been constructed at the bottom gate which were designed to funnel the blackheads into areas where it would be easy for Spartans to shoot at them without being in danger themselves. They had been nearly finished when the rebellion had broken out, which put work on hold, and then damaged badly when rebel Spartans decided to try and make a stand there.

The repairs went ahead, but nobody wanted to work in a place where they could be attacked at any time with little or no warning. As a result, the people assigned to work there were those that Meier's regime disliked most, or who they considered the most expendable.

It was therefore not surprising to Gigolo that he found himself on a shift there, late in the afternoon. Beyond the ever present worry of imminent attack, he didn't mind the work too much. It gave him a chance to think things over, something he knew he hadn't been doing enough. His thoughts wandered wildly, but in the end they came back to one person.

Elesa.

He supposed he was in love. He knew he was obsessed. There was no way he could avoid thinking about her, not that he wanted to.

Gigolo had given in to his feelings and gone searching for her. When he knocked on her door, Midori answered, and irritably told him that she had gone on some mission with Vivian. It frustrated him- first Atlas had spoiled their meeting in the hall, and now Vivian was pulling her away from him? It was as though the world didn't want him to get her.

With a groan of effort Gigolo pulled up the wall section and forced it into place between its neighbors. He snapped the joints into place and moved on to the next missing section.

The world could go to hell for all he cared, so long as he could be with Elesa. Although, he thought wryly, it probably would without any input from him.

Gigolo wasn't sure what he was going to do. If he wanted to survive, he supposed he was going to have to get to Nasces. He wasn't going to fool himself- Aspertias was finished. The problem was that the government had tightened controls on aircraft use after desertion rates skyrocketed. He didn't yet know how he was going to escape, but rest assured, he would. Gigolo always made it out.

He paused in his monotonous work as noises broke through his reverie. There was shouting coming from a distance away. Gigolo strained his head to see what it was about. What he saw made his breath freeze in his throat.

A wall of black Spartans was converging on the base from the valley. Gigolo couldn't see how many were behind, but there must have been hundreds in the first row alone. His hand fell to his rifle automatically, but what use would it be against such a tide?

Gunfire started from several points along the defenses, picking off the front line of blackheads. Gigolo raised his rifle and added his own shots to the fire, walking backwards as he did so.

The speed of the enemy was astonishing. In less than a minute they had covered half the remaining distance to the base, and showed no sign of stopping. Nor was the gunfire having any noticeable affect on the mass.

The shouting intensified, and the Spartans closest to the blackheads began to turn and run. Gigolo lowered his weapon and did the same. He sprinted towards the stairs leading up into the base, only to see them already crowded with Spartans trying to escape. That way would be suicide- he would be unable to defend himself in the crush. Turning, Gigolo was that the lead blackheads had reached the defenses and were cutting down the Spartans too brave or foolhardy to flee.

His eyes lighted on a service elevator between him and the blackheads and he made a split second decision.

Half way there a blackheads landed in front of him. Its body turned to him and he fired blindly, cutting it down. Two more replaced it, but he didn't stop. His first burst cut one down, but the other came rushing forwards. Instinctively he raised his rifle and the blackheads' sword cut it in two, but it missed him. Gigolo swung out with the butt and smashed it in the face.

The path to the elevator was clear, and he jumped into it without hesitation, slamming the button to go up. The elevator began to rise, and in moments he was out of danger.

'Shit,' he said quietly. The defenses were in chaos- blackheads ran riot around the remaining Spartans, cutting them down. A handful of Spartans had made it to the upper levels and were holding out alright; Gigolo saw reinforcements starting to arrive, but they made no attempt to retake the lower areas. Everyone down there was dead or dying.

Gigolo realized then that Aspertias was dead.

11

Night was falling over Nasces, and Zero was growing tired. His mission had been entirely unsuccessful; nobody was taking the threat seriously. The clans he talked to were either not bothered with something which didn't directly threaten them or assumed that the northern clans would be able to hold the OCP back. Many had laughed him off, calling him a worrywart or accusing him of attempting to raise panic for his own aims. Several had even tried to attack him.

'Black Runners, this is Zero,' he spoke into his radio. 'Returning to base.' A simple acknowledgment played back at him. Zero pulled on the controls and turned his sparrowhawk around, aiming for the Black Runners temporary base.

His radar pinged as it registered another contact. Zero glanced at it disinterestedly- air traffic was common in Nasces- and then did a double take. The contact was a banshee. Banshees, and other exotic equipment, was rare in the north. Zero knew many distrusted the technology. He simply thought it too expensive.

The banshee was on an intercept course for him. His hand hovered over the button that would raise communications. Should he?

The choice was taken from him as the banshee hailed him. A familiar voice played.

'Goodbye, Zero,' Haru said.

A plasma bolt streaked from the banshee's guns. In panic, Zero pulled the Sparrowhawk around, but couldn't move fast enough. The shot smashed into the side of his aircraft, wrecking one of the engines and sending it into a spin.

Zero fought with the aircraft, desperately trying to stabilize it before he crashed. He finally pulled out of the dive barely 20 meters above a tower block. He took in his surroundings quickly, and was dismayed to see the banshee coming around for another attack.

The banshee fired. Zero switched on the targeting systems and fired the nose mounted laser. The laser struck first. The banshee was gutted, one of its wings flying off. It spiraled away, crashing into the side of a nearby building. That was all he saw before the bolt struck his sparrowhawk, blowing out the last engine. The aircraft dropped like a stone, smashing into the roof of the tower block. Zero was thrown from the cockpit, landing a few meters from the edge of the roof.

'Oh, you piece of-' Zero bit off the curse. It wouldn't help him. The sparrowhawk was beyond repair now, and its radio was gone with it. His own radio might be able to reach the Black Runners, but he didn't want to count on it. There wasn't any other easy solution to his predicament, either. A lone spartan in unfamiliar markings would certainly be fired upon in the city. He was trapped until rescue came.

There was a thud on the roof behind him. Zero spun to see a fist fly into his face. He staggered back, and another blow hit him in the crotch.

'You're going to pay for that,' Haru said. She lifted Zero and threw him against the sparrowhawk. Zero picked himself up as Haru charged towards him again. He ducked her punch and struck back, hitting her in the chest. He followed up with a second punch, giving him time to roll away, around the burning wreckage.

'Why couldn't you just leave me alone?' Zero shouted, searching for a weapon to use.

'You took everything I had!' Haru shouted back. 'If you had just died back when I sabotaged your pelican, none of this would have happened!' She followed him around the wreck. Zero could see the glint of a knife in her hand.

'That was you?' Zero asked, stunned for a moment. Haru took advantage of his confusion to lunge at him, swiping the knife across his body. Zero jumped back, but lost his footing and fell to the floor. Snarling, Haru stabbed at him, but he managed to catch her arm and held it there, the knife inches from his face.

'Of course it was me!' she replied. 'But you survived, so I planted footage of you going into my room with Atlas.' She wrenched her arm free and made to stab again; Zero took the chance to roll away and get to his feet. He back stepped away from her as she howled in frustration.

'You did that!' Zero shouted. 'Why?' He continued to back around the rooftop; a glance behind him showed he was dangerously close to the edge.

'It seemed like an easy way to get rid of you,' Haru said. 'But then Meier went and attacked us before we were ready, and you ended up escaping anyway.'

'That was hardly my fault,' Zero replied.

'So? If not your fault, it was your bitch, Vivian.' Haru lunged again. Zero dodged to his left, but Haru changed her angle and caught him with the knife. It depleted his shields and the force of the blow sent him sprawling. He was now, he realized, back where he had begun.

Next to his head was his rifle. He grabbed it and opened fire on Haru, who jumped away, shields flaring. Zero got to his feet and continued to fire. Then he heard the click as his ammo ran out.

Haru took the opportunity to rush him, grabbing his waist and throwing him to the floor. She stamped on his right hand and he dropped the gun. Haru kicked it off the edge and tried to attack him, but he swung his legs around, sweeping her feet out from under her. She fell and he sprang onto her, seizing the knife. They grappled for it for a few moments before Zero elbowed Haru in the face and she let go. Now he was on the offensive, forcing Haru back.

'You know what? I am sick and tired of people blaming me for everything that goes wrong for them!' Zero shouted. 'Gigolo, Atlas, you- why do people always blame me! What have I ever done?'

He jumped at Haru, swinging the knife at her throat. She blocked his arm and pushed him back, but not before he managed to cut her. Blood welled up from the wound on her arm and she cried out.

'What did you do? You ruined everything!' Haru yelled, her voice thick.

'No, you did!' Zero shouted back. 'You just can't take the blame for it. It's the same with everyone else.' Haru stepped backwards, watching him warily. He advanced cautiously, watching his footing.

'You know what's funny though?' Zero asked suddenly. 'You blame me for ruining your life, but in reality you ruined my life. I had it good, with Vivian and a nice place, and then you sucked me in with your talk of a better world, and it ruined me.' He kept moving forwards. 'And now you went and destroyed what was left of my life. I'm on the run from my clan, my girlfriend hates me and people I used to trust want me dead.'

Haru was silent. Zero waited to see if she would say anything, but she just kept backing off.

'You wont even deny it,' he continued. 'You know what? I'm going to kill you. I'm going to enjoy it. And then when you respawn at Aspertias, assuming you ever do, you're going to be taken away and executed.' He grinned.

All of a sudden Haru leaned to one side, towards the sparrowhawk. She pulled a chunk of metal out and with a single motion threw it. The spear like rod of metal took Zero in the chest, destroying his shields and sending him flying back. Haru charged at him and pulled him to his feet, before throwing him against the wreckage. Zero slumped, stunned, and she pulled him up again and punched him in the face, and then again. She stepped back and he fell to the floor, unable to defend himself.

'No. I'm going to kill you, and enjoy it,' Haru said, a malicious joy in her voice. She pulled out a second knife and advanced on him.

Time slowed for Zero. The shape of Haru loomed in his vision.

Then a miracle happened. Haru staggered forwards, her shields flaring up. Zero looked up and saw a Sparrowhawk fly into his view, with a familiar Spartan leaning out of the side, a sniper rifle in her hand.

'Zero! Get up!' Elesa shouted, and Zero's heart lifted.

Haru turned and saw the Sparrowhawk. With a roar, she flung herself to the side as a second sniper shot pierced the area she had been occupying. Haru rolled to the edge of the building, and stood.

'Don't think you've won, Zero!' she shouted, and then jumped off the edge. Elesa cursed, and fired, but it was too late.

Zero had gotten to his feet by the time the Sparrowhawk landed in front of him. The cockpit opened and Vivian got out. Zero smiled; somehow, he knew it couldn't have been anyone else.

'Are you okay?' Vivian asked, concernedly.

'Just about,' Zero replied. 'Hey-'

His words were cut off as Vivian slapped him, hard. It was too much; he collapsed again.

'You idiot! What do you think you're doing?' She yelled, helping him to his feet. 'Why did you run?'

Zero couldn't speak; he was still trying to get his eyes to refocus. Through his blurry vision, he noticed something amiss about Vivian's armor.

'Vivian-' he tried to say, and Vivian yelled harder.

'Don't 'Vivian' me, Zero! I want an explanation, not an excuse!'

'No, Vivian- your armor!' he said.

'Huh?' Vivian said, surprised. 'What about it?'

'The markings- they're gone!'

**_A Note: I'm thinking of changing to a shorter, more common release format. Please leave a message telling me whether you would prefer shorter chapters or like the longer format._**


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